Copyright © 2010 João Paulo Figueirôa

 

 

João Paulo Figueirôa

             João Paulo Figueirôa began his formal music training with his father, and later continued his studies with Dr. Mario Ulloa at Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brazil, where he received his Community College Artist Diploma and his bachelor’s degree. His first concert occurred at the age of fourteen and he made his orchestral debut a few years later in Salvador - Bahia. During his undergraduate career, Figueirôa gave over one hundred live performances, including solo recitals and appearances on TV and radio shows. Considered as one of the best Brazilian guitarist of his generation, João Paulo Figueirôa  at the age of twenty-two decided to carry on his studies with the great American guitar pedagogue Bruce Holzman at Florida State University, where he obtained his master’s and doctoral degree.

             His performance career has taken him to Argentina, Europe, the U.S and to the most important cities in his native country. Most notable, he appeared at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. He has premiered several new pieces for guitar solo and chamber music by composers such as Paulo Costa Lima, and Leonardo Boccia. In addition to his solo and chamber performances, Figueirôa has been invited as a soloist by different orchestras and conductors such as Piero Bastianelli, Paulo Novais and Welligton Gomes, playing concertos by Ponce, Rodrigo and Vivaldi. Figueirôa is laureate in more than a dozen guitar competitions. His awards include the first prize at the Fourth Annual Musicalis National Competition in 2000, prize winner in the 2^nd National Competition of Young Soloists hosted by the Orquestra Sinfonica da Bahia in Brazil in 2003, The national first prize winner at the Music Teacher’s National Association Collegiate Artist Competition (MTNA) in 2004, and the first prize winner at the Columbus State Guitar Symposium in 2007.

             As an educator,  Figueirôa has held faculty positions in Universities and Guitar festivals in Brazil and the United States, been in demand as a master class teacher. Between 2003 and 2008 he served as a graduate assistant at Florida State University, where in 2006 he was nominated for an outstanding teaching assistant award. Currently he holds a private guitar studio Arlington, VA.

 

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