BMF’s First International Festival of Brazilian Classical Music includes the participation of professional musicians from different parts of the world and consists of classical Brazilian works based on traditional genres such as maracatu, baião, ponteio, modinha, and Brazilian tango and valsa. This rich source of Brazilian culture and folklore has served as inspiration for several Brazilian composers. Their works, characterized by a variety of rhythm, melodies, harmonies, and instrumentation, offer a portrait of the Brazilian sensibility and soul, which is reflected in the wide range of the program.

The composers included in the program represent several strands of the nationalist movement in Brazil. From Chiquinha Gonzaga, Alexandre Levy, Brasílio Itiberê and Waldemar Henrique to the works of Villa-Lobos, Camargo Guarnieri, Francisco Mignone, Osvaldo Lacerda, Villani-Côrtes, Antônio Ribeiro and others. A later generation of composers (Clóvis Pereira, Ronaldo Miranda, João Guilherme Ripper, and Antonio Ribeiro) blended traditional motives with more universal compositional techniques, and the youngest generation (Lauro Lira, Kleberson Buzo) followed on the footsteps of these masters.