Kilza Setti de Castro Lima (born 26 January 1932) is a Brazilian ethnomusicologist, composer, and pianist.
Kilza Setti was born in São Paulo, Brazil. She started her studies on piano with Leonilda Morganti and at age of 8 she started piano classes with Fructuoso Vianna.[1] In 1953 she graduated from the Conservatorio Dramatico y Musical of São Paulo where she studied composition with Camargo Guarnieri, and won scholarships for study in composition and research in ethnomusic at the Instituto Di Tella in Buenos Aires.[2] She also earned a scholarship to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal, where she studied under anthropologist Michel Giacometti and composer Fernando Lopes Graça.
Setti graduated from the University of São Paulo in 1982 with a doctorate degree in social anthropology. She studied the music of the European-and Indian-born fishermen on the southeastern coast of Brazil and the ritual music of the Guarani-Mbyá and Timbira Indians of Central Brazil, and founded the Brazilian Association of Folklore.[3]
Setti received awards for her compositions, including first prize in the composition competitions. She is a visiting professor at the Federal University of Bahia and other universities.
In 1999 Kilza's musical work was subject to two researches: a doctoral thesis in the University of Boston, USA, by cellist Darylin Manring; and a master's dissertation in the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), by pianist Nancy Bueno.[1]
Kilza Setti is influenced by her study of folkloric music and composes for orchestra, chamber ensemble, solo instrument and voice. Selected works include:
Her works have been recorded and issued on CD. She is the author of a book titled Voices of the Green Hell - Disenchanted Amazonia, 2003, ISBN 978-3-00-012238-5.
