Paulo Bitencourt

Paulo Bitencourt sings and plays bossa nova songs

Paulo Roberto de Paula Bitencourt (born December 20, 1966 in Castro, Paraná , Brazil ), better known as Paulo Bitencourt , is a Brazilian-Austrian singer , photographer , speaker and writer .

Life

As a boy, Paulo Bitencourt dreamed of becoming a cartoonist . At the age of thirteen he was working as an illustrator for a newspaper and a graphics and printing company in his hometown. In 1989 he went to Europe and temporarily lived in Portugal, France, England and Germany. The following year he settled in Austria.

Without any previous musical training, he passed the entrance examination for the Faculty of Solo Singing at the Vienna Conservatory in 1992 . Five years later he passed the entrance exam for the Faculty of Opera. He completed his studies in 2000. In his final exam he played "Count Almaviva" from Mozart's opera " The Marriage of Figaro ".

During his studies at the Vienna Conservatory, Paulo Bitencourt sang in the Concentus Vocalis Choir with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra , under the direction of Theodor Guschlbauer , in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, in the Arnold Schoenberg Choir with the Vienna Philharmonic , under the direction of Seiji Ozawa , at Wiener Konzerthaus and Carnegie Hall in New York, and in an independent production of Orpheus in der Unterwelt by Jacques Offenbach , with a month-long tour of Japan.

As a soloist, Paulo Bitencourt gave recitals in the Schubert Hall of the Wiener Konzerthaus, with works by Heitor Villa-Lobos and in the Bösendorfer Hall in Vienna, with songs by Villa-Lobos and Oscar Lorenzo Fernández . He performed in the Stadttheater Baden near Vienna and in the Theater Akzent in Vienna, where he played the king from the opera Die Kluge by Carl Orff , the father from Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck , Figaro from The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini and Guglielmo So fan tutte by WA Mozart sang.

In 1995, Paulo Bitencourt became part of the ensemble of the Vienna Burgtheater , primarily as a singer, but also in some pieces as an actor, such as the Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht , Orpheus in der Unterwelt by Jacques Offenbach, A Sports Play by Elfriede Jelinek and Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare , this one directed by Declan Donnellan.

The autodidact on the guitar also performs with Brazilian music and interpreted Bossa Nova classics , such as the compositions by Antônio Carlos Jobim , to songs by Chico Buarque, for example .

Paulo Bitencourt is also a voice-over speaker for corporate videos. a. Engaged by Plasser & Theurer , TGW Logistics Group , Doka Group and Lyoness .

As a photographer, Paulo Bitencourt's focus is on landscapes and street photography , but his preference is portrait photography . Among other things, he was commissioned to photograph the opera singer Elisabeth Kulman during one of her appearances at the Vienna Volksoper .

Paulo Bitencourt sees himself as a free thinker and is the author of two books that deal with the subject of religion and atheism: '' Liberto da Religião '' (Liberated from religion) and '' Com Zeus Não Se Brinca '' (You don't play with Zeus ).

Presence in Austrian media

Originally, Paulo Bitencourt never wanted to become an Austrian citizen, since Austria only allows one citizenship and therefore he would have had to renounce his Brazilian citizenship. In 2012, after he decided to live in Austria forever, he was the subject of a report in the daily Der Standard because he was a prominent example of the contradictions in Austrian immigration laws that prevented him from getting Austrian citizenship, though at that time he had been living in Austria for 22 years and was in possession of a permanent residence permit.

The TV channel ORF broadcast a report on Paulo Bitencourt in 2013, this time focusing on the case of his son, who - although he was born in Vienna in 2012 and his father had a permanent residence permit - would have to remain a foreigner in Austria for a long time.

On June 25, 2015, Paulo Bitencourt was the subject and guest of the ORF program `` Von Tag zu Tag '', in which he and the political scientist and migration researcher Bernhard Perchinig spoke about what he believed to be the cynical attitude of the Austrian state towards integrated foreigners who pursues a policy of exclusion by means of an income barrier and violates the principle of equality.

In October 2015, Paulo Bitencourt was the focus of the ORF programs '' Heimat Fremde Heimat '' and '' ZIB Magazin '', which dealt with the contradiction of the Austrian citizenship law, which makes naturalization dependent on a high income and thus well-integrated foreigners from democratic process because they are not allowed to vote.

In October 2015, News magazine again carried out an interview with Paulo Bitencourt, in which the negative consequences of the Austrian Citizenship Act for democracy were discussed.

Austrian citizen

In 2016, Paulo Bitencourt, his wife from Russia and their son, who was born in Vienna, were naturalized by the Austrian state.

Book publications

• Liberto da Religião: O Inestimável Prazer de Ser Um Livre-Pensador ('' Liberated from Religion: The Invaluable Bliss of Being a Freethinker '')
• Com Zeus Não Se Brinca ('' You don't play with Zeus '')

Web links

• Website
• Paulo Bitencourt in the Austrian newspaper "Niederösterreichische Nachrichten" (2010)
• Paulo Bitencourt quoted in a speech by MP Alev Korun in the Austrian Parliament (July 2013)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Paulo Bitencourt with the Burgtheater at the Mülheimer Theatertage (1999)
2. ↑ Paulo Bitencourt with the Burgtheater at the Berlin Festival (May 20, 1998)
3. ↑ Paulo Bitencourt sings and plays Bossa Nova in Vienna (2010)
4. ↑ Bossa Nova interpretations by Paulo Bitencourt
5. ↑ Paulo Bitencourt as speaker
6. ↑ Some photographic works by Paulo Bitencourt
7. ↑ Book “Liberto da Religião”  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ↑ Book “Com Zeus Não Se Brinca”
9. ↑ Paulo Bitencourt in the Austrian newspaper “Der Standard” (January 6, 2012)
10. ↑ Paulo Bitencourt in the TV show “ORF Report” (July 2013)
11. ↑ Paulo Bitencourt on the radio show “Von Tag zu Tag” (June 2015)
12. ↑ Audio of the radio show “Von Tag zu Tag” with Paulo Bitencourt (June 2015)
13. ↑ Paulo Bitencourt in the TV show “Heimat Fremde Heimat” (October 2015)
14. ↑ “ZIB Magazin” with Paulo Bitencourt (October 2015)
15. ↑ “News” magazine interviews Paulo Bitencourt (October 2015)
16. ↑ Book “Liberto da Religião” on Amazon
17. ↑ Book “Com Zeus Não Se Brinca” on Amazon