Adelaide Pereira da Silva was born in
São Paulo. She started studying piano with her mother from an early age, and later with Nair de Souza. She became a well-accomplished pianist, when she took advanced interpretation classes with Professor
Hans Bruch. According to pianist Gilberto Tinetti, she was one of Bruch's most talented students, along with Tinetti himself; Isolde Bass, Bruch's wife; Rudolf Frisch; Elisa Capocchi; Arnaldo Antunes; Maria Elisa Figueiredo; and Roberto Delollio. In her thesis, as well as in an article about Pereira da Silva's compositions, Maria Mati Sakamoto quotes Gilberto Tinetti, who referred to Prof. Pereira da Silva's "exuberant sonority" as a pianist. Initially, Adelaide Pereira da Silva studied composition with Dinorah de Carvalho and
Osvaldo Lacerda. Later, she was
Camargo Guarnieri's student, and became one of the major figures of his composition school, along with famous composers such as Lacerda,
Almeida Prado, ,
Nilson Lombardi,
Lina Pires de Campos and
Kilza Setti. She began working as a music teacher in 1960, and was also a professor at Santa Marcelina College and Belas Artes College. She composed a number of works based on Brazilian folk themes. Her knowledge and expertise in Brazilian folk music were acquired through studies developed under Rossini Tavares de Lima's guidance. Professor Pereira da Silva was one of the founders of the Brazilian Pro Music Society (Sociedade Pró-Música Brasileira). ==Honors and awards==