João Luiz

 Two time Latin Grammy nominee guitarist, educator, and composer João Luiz, began to play  the popular music of his native Brazil professionally during his childhood and was later  trained in classical guitar by his mentor Henrique Pinto. Winner of the 2006 Concert Artists  Guild Competition as a member of the critically acclaimed Brasil Guitar Duo, João has  performed extensively in the United States, Asia, Europe and Latin America. As a performer  and composer João is equally at home with classical, Brazilian and world music; his solo  guitar, chamber music, and concerto repertoire covers all the main works in the guitar  literature from Dowland to Berio and Brazilian rhythms from choro to baião. His versatility led  him to be chosen to collaborate with Yo-Yo Ma and Carlos Prieto on a project to celebrate the  75th anniversary of the Cuban composer Leo Brouwer in a landmark concert in Cuba in 2014.  

João holds a masters degree from Mannes College, and as the recipient of the Augustine  Foundation scholarship he earned his doctoral degree from Manhattan School of Music.  Eager to expand the repertoire of his instrument João has commissioned and premiered  works written for him by Sérgio Assad (24 studies), Leo Brouwer (Sonata n.7 & n.10), Clarice  Assad, David Leisner, Ronaldo Miranda, Mariel Mayz, Sebastian Zubieta, Marco Pereira, David  Sampson, Frederic Hand and Dusan Bogdanovic. João is the director of chamber music at  CUNY Hunter College and also teaches guitar at Stony Brook University and Mannes College.  He is a recipient of the prestigious 2023 CUNY Feliks Gross award in recognition of his  outstanding scholarship.