João MacDowell

On the occasion of the concert premiere of his fifth opera The Seventh Seal, Swedish journalist Johanna Paulsson of Dagens Nyheter noted the composer as "a new thinker in the genre".

In it his audience heard for the first time the motif theme of tamanduá, with an introduction that bridges Brazilian traditional music with contemporary classical orchestration.

The music was chosen to be broadcast on a children's day TV special of Rede Globo, O circo do Huck, reaching an audience of over 10 million people.

Alice em Miami (2007), an EP release followed, featuring tracks produced in Philadelphia, with Paul Atkinson and Max Laskavy at Aurum recording studios.

MacDowell's talent as composer and record producer started to be demanded internationally in 2002, and he moved permanently to New York City in 2006, where he also acts as Creative Director for Come Together Music.

[8] and also as Artistic Director of the International Brazilian Opera Company (IBOC)[9][2] In the US, MacDowell has produced a number of recordings, including: Wayne Hsu, Lydia Witman, BB, Noel Garcez, and an album of world music with various Ethiopian vocalists, co-produced by Mengistu Melese of Masinko productions.

MacDowell has also written soundtracks for Graham Elliot's documentary Grayhound to Cuba, Debra Solomon's animation 777, 6th Ave., and Oscar-nominated director John Dilworth's Cartoon Physics, and the theater play Barry White – Guided by Destiny.

In the cast Guto Bittencourt as tenor (Pedro & The Editor), Amy Buckley as soprano (Carol), Claudio Mascarenhas as baritone (Aruanan), Abby Powell as mezzo-soprano (Julia).

Scored for symphonic orchestra, choir and a cast of soloists, it draws on the tradition of operatic emotion; a total work of art that embraces dance and multimedia technologies.

[11] In December 2009, Montclair State University, John J Cali School of Music, New Jersey, presented 16 staged scenes from Tamanduá at the Alexander Kasser Theater.

[12] In September 2011, premiered in New York, the feature documentary Parece que existo, focused on the life and works of MacDowell, directed by Mário Salimon, shot in Portuguese, with English subtitles.

In 2016, MacDowell presented a workshop in New York at Scandinavia House with the music of first act of The Seventh Seal a work in progress under contract with the Ingmar Bergman Foundation, sung in Swedish.

[29] Its chamber version was first presented at Stockholm's Modern Art Museum (Moderna Museet), as part of the Bergman Festival, by the Royal Dramatic Theater of Sweden (Dramaten).