Biography
Diante do Trono (Before the Throne) is a Brazilian contemporary Christian music band formed in 1997 in the city of Belo Horizonte, in the Lagoinha Baptist Church. It is led by singer, songwriter and pastor Ana Paula Valadão. The group became popular in Brazil after the release of their first work, the disc Diante do Trono 1998. However, it was the albums Águas Purificadoras and Preciso de Ti that gained them international recognition, turning them into the main worship ministry in Latin America and one of the most successful in Brazilian music.
In one presentation, held in 2003 during the recording of the album Quero Me Apaixonar, Diante do Trono gathered about 2 million people. The band has won trophies for Talent and Promise, and was also nominated for a Latin Grammy in 2012 with the Sol da Justiça work.[5] Diante do Trono has sold over 15 million records in various formats, one of the record holders of record sales in Brazil.
The band, from its inception had a brass orchestra and strings, has had several instrumental changes throughout its career, especially the period of the years 2011 and 2012, when the only members that remained from the initial training group were Ana Paula Valadão, vocalist and band leader, and Elias Fernandes, rhythm guitarist of the set. With the end of the orchestra the band’s sound became noticeably more pop rock. The band’s music is characterized by congregational singing and contemporary Christian music, with influences of pop rock, progressive rock and folk.
The band had also created the Center for Ministerial Training Diante do Trono (CTMDT), a preparatory center for musicians and singers in the area of missions, as well as the Arts Factory, which in a partnership with the Lagoinha Baptist Church trains professionals in diverse areas such as singing, theater and dance, and has part of his discography devoted entirely to children. Diante do Trono participates in social projects, such as India Project, which collects and help Indian girls in prostitution, food donations to cities in the North of Minas Gerais in 2003, and a campaign of bone marrow donations in Barretos, during the recording of their thirteenth album in 2010.[8]
