Paulo Bitencourt
| Paulo Bitencourt | |
|---|---|
 Bitencourt performing bossa nova | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Paulo Roberto de Paula Bitencourt |
| Born | December 20, 1966 |
| Origin | Castro, Paraná |
| Genres | Opera, bossa nova, MPB (Brazilian popular music), samba |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, photographer, narrator |
| Instruments | Vocals, acoustic guitar |
| Website |
bitencourt |
Paulo Roberto de Paula Bitencourt (Castro, Paraná, Brazil, December 20, 1966), better known as Paulo Bitencourt, is a Brazilian singer, photographer and narrator.
Professional activity
Still during his studies at the Conservatory of the City of Vienna, Paulo Bitencourt sang in professionals choirs, with numerous performances in Austria, Israel, Italy, Japan and the United States, like the Concentus Vocalis Choir with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Theodor Guschlbauer in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the Arnold Schoenberg Choir with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Seiji Ozawa at the Vienna Konzerthaus and the Carnegie Hall in New York, and an independent production of Orpheus in the Underworld by Jacques Offenbach, with a one month tour throughout Japan.
As a soloist, Bitencourt gave recitals at the Schubert Hall of the Vienna Konzerthaus, singing works of Heitor Villa-Lobos, and at the Bösendorfer Hall, in Vienna, interpreting Villa-Lobos and Oscar Lorenzo Fernández. He has performed in various theaters, including the Stadttheater Baden, Austria, and the Theater Akzent, in Vienna, playing The King, from the opera The Wise Woman by Carl Orff, The Father, from Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck, Figaro, from The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini, and Guglielmo, from Così Fan Tutte by W. A. Mozart.
In 1995, Bitencourt became part of the ensemble of the largest German-language theater, the Burgtheater,[1] in Vienna, primarily as a singer, but in some plays also as an actor, such as Die Dreigroschenoper by Bertolt Brecht, “Orpheus in the Underworld” by Jacques Offenbach, Ein Sportstück by Elfriede Jelinek, and Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare, this one under the direction of Declan Donnellan.[2]
Self taught on the guitar, in recent years Bitencourt has been interpreting the classics of bossa nova,[3] like the compositions of Antonio Carlos Jobim and many others, extending it also to the songs of Chico Buarque, for example.[4]
Apart from being a singer, Bitencourt is also narrator (voice-over artist) of corporate videos for international companies, like Plasser & Theurer, the TGW Logistics Group, Doka Group and Lyoness.[5]
As a photographer, Bitencourt’s main subjects are landscapes and street photography,[6] but he has a predilection for portraits, having been hired to photograph, for example, the opera singer Elisabeth Kulman, during one of her performances at the Vienna Volksoper.
In Austrian media
Initially, Paulo Bitencourt did not want to become an Austrian citizen, since Austria allows only a single citizenship and he, therefore, would have to forgo his Brazilian nationality. However, in 2012, after he decided to remain in Austria, he was the subject of a story by the largest quality Austrian newspaper, Der Standard, for being a prominent example of the contradictions in Austria’s immigration laws, which at the moment prevent him from receiving the Austrian citizenship, although he, until then, had lived for twenty-two years in Austria and is in possession of a permanent residence for that country.[7]
In 2013, regarding the inconsistencies of Austrian immigration laws, Austria's biggest TV channel, ORF, aired a story on Bitencourt, this time focusing on the case of his son, who, despite having been born in Vienna, in 2012, and the permanent residence of his father, will have to remain a foreigner in Austria until reaching a certain age.[8]
On 06/25/2015 Paulo Bitencourt was subject and guest of the radio program "Von Tag zu Tag" of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation,[9] in which he, along with the political scientist and migration researcher Bernhard Perchinig, spoke about the cynical posture of the Austrian state to well-integrated immigrants, which practices a policy of exclusion and violates the principle of equality by naturalizing only foreigners with a high income.[10]
In October 2015, two television broadcasts of ORF, Heimat Fremde Heimat and ZIB Magazine, reported on Paulo Bitencourt’s case, who cannot be naturalized Austrian, in spite of his 25-year residency in Austria, because of a contradiction in the Austrian Citizenship Act, which makes naturalization dependent only of a high income, thus excluding well-integrated foreigners (those who are in possession of a permanent residence permit, like Bitencourt) from the democratic process, as they are not allowed to vote.[11][12]
Also in October 2015, the magazine “News” brought an interview with Paulo Bitencourt, in which the negative consequences for democracy of the Austrian law on citizenship were discussed.[13]
References
- ↑ Paulo Bitencourt with the Burgtheater at the Mülheim Festival (1999)
- ↑ Jelinek, Elfriede. "Ein Sportstück" [A Sport Play]. BerlinerFestspiele.de (in German). Retrieved 2015-02-23.
- ↑ Paulo Bitencourt performing bossa nova live in Vienna (2010)
- ↑ Paulo Bitencourt's bossa nova interpretations
- ↑ Paulo Bitencourt as a voice-over artist
- ↑ Some photographic works of Paulo Bitencourt
- ↑ Paulo Bitencourt in the Austrian newspaper “Der Standard” (6 January 2012)
- ↑ Paulo Bitencourt on the TV program “ORF Report” (July 2013)
- ↑ Paulo Bitencourt on the radio program “Von Tag zu Tag” (June 2015)
- ↑ Audio of the radio program “Von Tag zu Tag” with Paulo Bitencourt (June 2015)
- ↑ Paulo Bitencourt on the TV program "Heimat Fremde Heimat" (October 2015)
- ↑ "ZIB Magazin" on Paulo Bitencourt (October 2015)
- ↑ "News" magazine interviews Paulo Bitencourt (October 2015)