I started playing the violin for fun with my Grandad when I was quite young, which then lead to my Mom taking me to play in an orchestra when I was eight. I was the youngest member there and the orchestra was good fun, but I never thought of having a music career at that time.
Three years later my family moved to Bahia, in the north of Brazil where I was a founding member of a music project called NEOJIBA which inspired me to be the musician I am today. It is a project inspired by El Sistema, channelling that passion for orchestral playing and music education to a new generation. With NEOJIBA I had the opportunity to play on internationally renowned stages like Royal Festival Hall, Victoria Hall (Switzerland), and Berlin Konzerthaus (Germany). NEOJIBA also gave me opportunities to go on exchanges with Youth Orchestra of Americas and National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. I often go back to visit and carry this project close to my heart.
In 2010 my family moved back to São Paulo, where I played for the São Paulo Estate Youth Orchestra for two years. During my time with the orchestra we went on tours to France, Holland and Germany and I was chosen, in 2014, to go for a summer course with the Jeune Orchestre Européen Hector Berlioz and Les Siècles conducted by François-Xavier Roth. That was an amazing experience.
After that, I moved to England for my undergraduate studies at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. I grew so much both professionally and personally during my four years at the conservatoire. I started studying Baroque violin, got involved with the Early Music Department, played many concerts as concertmaster, played a solo in my third year, produced a CD for my final year project and graduated with a First Class Honours degree. I was generously supported by the Birmingham School of Music Centenary Appeal Fund Award, the Chris Hedge Fund Award and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire that fully sponsored my studies. I could never thank them enough.
I can't wait for the many experiences being with Southbank Sinfonia this year will bring and am looking forward to what’s next in my musical career!
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Birmingham, UK
What’s your most memorable moment as a musician?
When I was 11, I heard Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances for the first time and it opened my eyes and imagination to a world I had never experienced before. I was on an exchange with the Youth Orchestra of the Americas and the conductor told the saxophone to sound like an elephant walking on his tippy toes. From that moment on it was like the rehearsal room became a magic place, my imagination was so engaged that for me it was as if I could see everything before me as we played. An enchanted forest, a phantoms’ ball, a funfair, a lost girl, and the biggest, most delicate elephant on his tippy toes. I’ve never felt so connected to a piece the way I feel about the Symphonic Dances. It reflects my personality at its deepest and on that day I realised music was my life.
Tell us something about yourself that might surprise us.
I used to be on my school dance team. Once we went for a national schools dance team competition and we won the gold medal.