I was born in the city of Rio de Janeiro, and I was fortunate to have many prominent figures in music involved in my artistic training. I attended the Villa-Lobos Music School in the 1980s and, in 1990, the UFRJ Music School, where I met friends among the most talented musicians of my generation.

Alongside the pianist and, above all, unparalleled artist, Luiz Henrique Senise, I was able to discover the ways that, from the understanding of the musical text, lead to a technical ease and full achievement of a musical piece. I have observed, from personal experience and also from my colleagues, that a mechanical study of pianistic technique, if not harmful to the artist’s soul (and I believe it is), is totally unnecessary for the performance of any pianistic work.

At UFRJ, I also had the honour of having the pianist Miriam Grosman as a teacher, who possessed an unusual artistic astuteness, whereby a few words or a few minutes at the piano were enough for her to open a world of new ideas and possibilities. Instead of the easy task of restricting my interpretive freedom and dictating my own vision (the crime committed by most teachers), she offered me a broad horizon of possibilities, which I took advantage of at every opportunity.

Being always eager to hear good musical ideas, I was a frequent attendee of concerts and master classes, and I could hear and be heard by pianists such as Arnaldo Cohen, Olga Kiun, Luiz Carlos de Moura Castro (USA), Homero Magalhães, Frederick Moyer (USA), Mauricy Martin, Dominique Merlet (France), Olinda Alessandrini, Gayane Sharluyan (Russia-Spain), Heitor Alimonda, and Frank Weinstock (USA), among others.

I have also participated in piano competitions. Consistently placing among the top positions, I also competed in the “Artlivre”, “Paulo Giovanini”, “Lorenzo Fernandez” and “Souza Lima” contests. In the “Governador Valadares” competition, I received from the pianist Fernando Lopes, the special prizes of best Brazilian and Romantic music from the entire contest, for my interpretation of Sonata Breve (Lorenzo Fernandez) and Polonaise-Fantaisie op.61 (F. Chopin)

With pianist Fernanda Machado, I further refined my interest in teaching, which had begun with my piano assistantship at UFRJ. We started PianoClass in 1998, aiming to become a reference in the teaching of piano and art. In addition to countless masterclasses and courses at UFPel, either solo or in collaboration with Fernanda, I offered a masterclass at UDESC, a lecture for the graduate program at the Brazilian Conservatory of Music of Rio de Janeiro, and for the undergraduate program at UFSM – alongside a recital, combining the teaching activities with performance.

In Istanbul, I performed with the pianist Fernanda Machado (PianoClass Duo) a recital and a master class hosted by the Mimar Sinan Fine Art University. The master class, held in a packed auditorium, had the participation of excellent students from that university. In Amsterdam, we gave a lecture entitled “The Composer’s Text through the Performer’s Mind and Soul,” in a series of events organised by the prestigious Triple Nine Society, where we had the special participation of the singer and pianist Anne-Laure Jaïn.