Departures of note

Roberto Tibiriçá Passos was a Brazilian orchestral conductor regarded as one of the great names of conducting in Brazil, with more than four decades devoted to music. Born in São Paulo, he began his career as a pianist, studying with figures such as Nelson Freire and Gilberto Tinetti, and trained in conducting under Eleazar de Carvalho, whose assistant he was for nearly eighteen years. He won two editions of the Osesp young conductors' contest and later studied with Lukas Foss in New York.

In 1994 he joined the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira, becoming its artistic director and principal conductor the following year, and went on to lead the Orquestra Petrobras Sinfônica, the Sinfônica Heliópolis, the Orquestra Sinfônica de Minas Gerais and, from 2022 until his death, the Orquestra Sinfônica do Paraná. He conducted major Brazilian and international orchestras and worked with soloists including Martha Argerich, Joshua Bell and Nelson Freire, and recorded works by composers such as Camargo Guarnieri and Heitor Villa-Lobos.

Tibiriçá held chair number 5 of the Academia Brasileira de Música and was an honorary member of the Academia Nacional de Música. He received numerous honours, including the Carlos Gomes Prize for best symphonic conductor in 2010 and 2011 and the APCA Prize for best conductor, and published a book on conducting training. He died in São Paulo on 3 October 2026 at age 72 after a two-year battle with cancer.