Augusto Moralez is a Brazilian percussionist and vibraphonist dedicated to creating a new solo vibraphone repertoire through research, commissioning, and premiering contemporary works. His project focuses on identifying gaps in existing literature, collaborating with composers to expand the instrument’s expressive possibilities, and integrating new pieces with established Brazilian vibraphone compositions. This approach highlights techniques like pedal timing, harmonic clarity, and the balance of sustained tones with percussive attacks. Moralez’s work promotes the vibraphone as a solo instrument within Brazilian music and beyond, showcased in his PASIC 2026 performance.

“Inventing a Repertoire” names both a musical idea and a working method. For the vibraphone — an instrument still underrepresented in solo concert traditions — repertoire does not simply “appear”; it is constructed through research, collaboration, and sustained performance. In this project, Augusto Moralez treats repertoire-building as a cycle: identifying gaps in the literature; commissioning and workshopping new pieces with composers; premiering and documenting the results; and then circulating the works through concerts and lecture-recitals so they become playable, teachable, and repeatable beyond a single occasion. His ongoing artistic-research practice includes commissioning and premiering unpublished works for vibraphone in multiple settings, including solo repertoire. This PASIC 2026 performance makes that process audible by combining new commissions written specifically for Moralez’s commissioning project with established cornerstones of the Brazilian vibraphone repertoire. 

The commissioned works exemplify how contemporary composers expand the instrument’s “grammar”: resonance shaped by pedal timing, harmonic clarity within four-mallet textures, the interplay of sustained halos and articulate attacks, and the vibraphone’s capacity to sing without losing its percussive identity. New works commissioned by Moralez will be “Tetragrammaton VI” (2007) by Roberto Victorio, “Skyy” (2016) by César Traldi, “Entre o pesar e a leveza” (2023) by Arthur Rinaldi, “Sumaré” (2024) by Iván Chiarelli, and “Solitude” (2017) by Samuel Peruzzolo. The program also features recognized works that helped define the Brazilian solo vibraphone tradition: “Brazilian Landscape” (1998) by Ney Rosauro and “Modelagem X-A” (1997) by Edson Zampronha.

Augusto Moralez is a Brazilian percussionist, vibraphonist, composer, and professor at the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL), where he coordinates the Percussion Center and the Percufal Percussion Group. He holds a PhD in Music from UNICAMP and specialized in keyboard percussion at the Strasbourg Conservatory (France) under Emmanuel Séjourné, graduating with highest honors. A central focus of his career is an original solo-vibraphone repertoire built through research, commissioning, and premieres of new works. He is also recognized as a member of Duo Percosur, winner of the Ady Mootz Prize at the 2009 International Percussion Competition in Luxembourg.