Marcelo Cesena is a concert pianist and music composer from Sao Paulo, Brazil, who moved to Los Angeles 10 years ago to pursue a dream: make a living from his art.
"It's hard, but so far, so good," said Cesena, adding that "my challenge is that Americans always associated Brazilian music with Samba, Bossa Nova and Tom Jobim. The best of what we have as music, but we have so many other great expressions of music that are not so popular or known. I believe my mission here is to bring other elements of our culture." His music might not be the typical Brazilian music well known in America, but he guarantees that there is a taste of Brazil in every single note of his songs. Cesena is currently developing his own music style. "I can't name it yet, but it's something very particular," he said.
The sacrifice is paying off. Cesena has recently been awarded best Brazilian Musician living in the United States. "I'm like a little ambassador of my country. Everything I do has a little taste of Brazil. The challenge on this is that there is a stereotype of who the Brazilian musician is. But here people really enjoy and respect the Brazilian artist and the Brazilian musician. I was very surprised on how they accept you," said Cesena emotionally.
Seems like this is just the beginning for Cesena. It's what said an expert. "Marcelo is a major gift; he does things musically that I can't even put into words; a lot of artists struggle their entire lives trying to do," said oboist Tom Boyd, who performed on more then 1,000 movies in Hollywood. Cesena and Boyd met in a recording studio last fall. Boyd said they've been "musically married" since. "When we met was that about a year ago when we did a movie called Watercolors. I knew walking out of there that it was not going be the end of our relationship. That we were going to be musically doing things together for years to come," said Boyd. The partnership is going well. The duet has founded a group called Hollywood soloists, featuring concerts inspired by famous movie soundtracks.
Cesena might play classical, but his talent is very modern. He developed his own way of interacting with the audience. Boyd said it's just a matter of time until Cesena makes it big in Hollywood. "He's one of the few musicians a run into my entire life that has been able to move people like I've never seen before. What he does with that piano and what he does in communication with the audience is a rarity," said Boyd, adding that "right now, he's this diamond in the rough that no one has found yet. Marcelo will set the world in fire. I think he'll be offered movies; he will be offered solo contracts. I'll be lucky to be part of his live. I give it about a year."
Cesena has plenty of plans for the next year and for the long-term future. "I want to do things is a larger scale now; I want to travel the world doing presentations; I want to compose for movies and video clips. I want to carry on touching people with my music; that's my mission," he said. After 20 years playing professionally, he's about to release his second solo album, Nuance. Watch out Carmem Miranda, he might get a star right next to yours.
