How an Unexpected Opportunity Led to My Latin Grammy Nomination
- Rafael Piccolotto de Lima
- 24 hours ago
- 5 min read
How does someone get nominated for a major award like a Grammy? Is it a matter of merit or luck? You may have wondered about this while watching an awards ceremony, just as I did when I decided to pursue a career in music.
Little did I know that this would become my reality. But how did I get there?
In this article, I tell the story behind that great surprise: the nomination of Abertura Jobiniana for a 2013 Latin Grammy in the Best Classical Contemporary Composition category. I also share some reflections on the process that gave rise to the work and what followed that recognition.
If you are not familiar with my story, you might assume that this happened recently, when I already had considerable experience. In fact, I was twenty-seven and still a graduate student at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music when it all happened.
The Big News
To this day, the episode brings back a whirlwind of emotions. So let us begin with the climax: the big news.
It was a recording day at the University of Miami. I was in the studio, working with the university's leading big band on a piece of mine called “Brookmeyer Motives,” inspired by the work of Bob Brookmeyer. I had my headphones on, the entire recording setup was in place, and I was extremely focused and excited. We recorded two takes of the piece, and then my advisor suddenly walked into the room. As usual, I expected a comment about the recording or a suggestion concerning the work, but he said that he had some news for me.
That alone struck me as unusual because we were in the middle of the recording session. Without much preamble, he asked me to step outside, looked at me, and said, “You have been nominated for a Latin Grammy!” I was stunned and asked for more details. He explained that Carlomagno Araya, the drummer and producer of the nominated project, was visiting the university and had brought the news with him.
How the Opportunity Came About
My colleague Jeremy Fox was completing his doctorate and working on the arrangements for a project called Jobim Sinfônico, presented with the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica. He was going to travel to Costa Rica to conduct the orchestra in a concert featuring Brazilian and Latin American soloists.
Short on time because of his dissertation, he asked me to help with two arrangements that had to be written on a relatively tight schedule. The fee was nominal, especially considering that the work was for a symphony orchestra.
I was also very busy in the second year of my master's program, so I gave it some thought. But I soon adjusted my schedule and decided to help. I believed it could be an interesting project, the kind of work I enjoy doing. Jeremy allowed me to choose two pieces from the planned concert repertoire. I selected “Chovendo na Roseira,” a beautiful and lesser-known song by Tom Jobim, and the concert's opening piece, initially conceived as a medley of bossa nova themes. When I decided to write the opening, however, I asked whether I could do something a little different.
Artistic Vision
I told Jeremy something about Tom Jobim that not everyone knows. Beyond the songs for which he became widely known, Jobim wrote concert works, worked as an arranger and orchestrator, and developed a significant body of orchestral music. I then presented my idea.
Since this was a symphonic concert devoted to bossa nova and the arrangements would primarily explore the popular side of Jobim's music, why not turn the opening into a tribute to his orchestral output? Jeremy found the idea interesting, shared it with the other organizers, and they all agreed. I was pleased that they were open to my proposal because it changed the direction initially envisioned for that part of the concert. This artistic decision proved pivotal to what happened next.
The project gave me a valuable opportunity to study Jobim's orchestral output more deeply. I gained access to several orchestral scores, transcribed excerpts from other pieces, and listened repeatedly to many works that had been with me since childhood. Abertura Jobiniana grew out of this process. In the composition, I develop melodic motives, harmonic paths, and quotations from works including Brasília, Sinfonia da Alvorada, Canta, Canta Mais, and Passarim. To me, these materials symbolized another dimension of Jobim's creative work and had always held a deep fascination. The result was a new composition built with some of the colors of that orchestral world.
The Concert and the Recording
Abertura Jobiniana was performed at the concert in Costa Rica, which later gave rise to the album Bossa Nova Sinfónico. At the time, I still felt that the piece was not entirely as I wanted it to be, both in terms of the writing and the interpretation. I even questioned whether it should be included on the album, but they insisted that it should be part of the recording.
Bossa Nova Sinfónico was submitted in several Latin Grammy categories. One of them was Best Classical Contemporary Composition, the category that differed most from the project's other submissions. It was in this category that Abertura Jobiniana received a nomination in 2013. The official record identifies Rafael Piccolotto de Lima as the composer, Jeremy Fox as the conductor, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica as the orchestra featured on the recording.
In the years that followed, Abertura Jobiniana was performed by different orchestras in Brazil and abroad. The visibility generated by the nomination also contributed to new opportunities connected to orchestral composition, including the premiere of Cenas Quiméricas at the opening of the Campinas Municipal Symphony Orchestra's 2014 season.
In a certain sense, this opportunity changed the direction of my life and opened a number of doors. Important opportunities often arise where we least expect them. The challenge is to recognize the ones that make sense and to do the best work possible when they appear.
The nomination did not result from a direct pursuit of recognition. It emerged from a combination of preparation, a willingness to collaborate, and the decision to propose an artistic vision of my own within the project.
About the Author
Rafael Piccolotto de Lima is a composer, arranger, music director, and educator. A Latin Grammy-nominated composer and recipient of multiple international awards, including 13 DownBeat Awards and honors from ASCAP, he develops artistic projects at the intersection of Brazilian music, jazz, and orchestral writing. His work also encompasses recording production, research, education, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
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