João Carlos Martins, born June 25, 1940 in São Paulo, Brazil is an acclaimed Brazilian classical pianist and conductor, who has performed with leading orchestras in the United States, Europe and Brazil.

He is celebrated as a great interpreter of Johann Sebastian Bach and has recorded his complete keyboard works. For decades Martins has been engaged as the leading pianist at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and other ensembles. The New York Times wrote, "Maestro Martins has lived a life of renown, challenge, tenacity and triumph sufficient to fill a lively memoir". In July 2023 journalist Jamil Chade announced in a joint statement with Martins that they are planning to write a new one together.

After his career as a concert pianist was derailed by injuries and accidents, he successfully reinvented himself as a conductor, leading hundreds of performances worldwide including acclaimed concerts at Carnegie Hall. He is a conductor at the English Chamber Orchestra and the Bachiana Filarmonica Orchestra. He has also founded social programs for underprivileged youth in Latin America.

Martins has been portrayed in books an films: a 2001 book by David Dubal, a Juilliard School professor; in a 2004 German documentary “Die Martins-Passion” which won several international awards, accompanies him during his darkest hours, tracing early triumphs and dramatic events in his life. He also encounters some of his friends including soccer player Pelé and jazz pianist Dave Brubeck; A biographical drama film "João, O Maestro" (João, The Conductor), was directed by Bruno Barreto and launched in 2017; In July 2023, journalist Jamil Chade and Martins announced they are working on a new biography.

In 2020, he returned to playing with both hands with the help of a pair of bionic gloves for the first time in two decades. They were especially developed for him by the Brazilian industrial designer Ubiratan Bizarro Costa.

In November of 2022, 60 years after making his Carnegie Hall debut, Martins returned to Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage to celebrate the debut’s anniversary. The concert included two Brandenburg Concertos, one Aria from Bach, and two Brazilian composers, Heitor Villa-Lobos and André Mehmari. His highly anticipated return was not only a monumental moment in music, but an ode to his resilience.

Harold C. Schonberg, Pulitzer-winning music critic of the New York Times, said, "His technique sends fireworks in all directions... he does everything with extraordinary élan." The Boston Globe characterized him as "The most exciting player of Bach on the modern piano to emerge since Glenn Gould," and National Public Radio described Martins' Bach as "in the same tradition of, say, Furtwängler's Beethoven or Bernstein's Brahms. The pianist has placed such a vivid stamp on the material that it is no longer the composer's alone… It's literally breathtaking.”

Sources
Wiki: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/João_Carlos_Martins
NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/26/arts/music/26bach.html
1962: https://www.nytimes.com/1962/03/12/archives/brazilian-pianist-has-local-debut-joao-carlos-martins-plays-with.html
2023: https://www.amny.com/entertainment/music/joao-carlos-martins-60th-anniversary-carnegie-hall/
Bionic Gloves: https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2020/12/08/joo-carlos-martins-t4g-spc-intl.cnn Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.