Artists

Fernando Brandão

Born in Rio de Janeiro, flutist, composer, author, and educator Fernando Brandão has performed extensively as a bandleader, sideman, chamber musician, and soloist in his native Brazil and the US. Utilizing concert, alto, bass flutes, and pífanos, Fernando delivers an eclectic repertoire spanning traditional and contemporary Brazilian, jazz, and classical genres. The Fernando Brandão Quartet embraces this diversity, moving through genres like choro, samba, frevo, ijexá, baião, and maracatu with refined playing and precise technique, infusing a jazzy essence into an authentically Brazilian language.

He has been featured at the Celebrity Series in Boston, the First Cambridge Jazz Festival, the Beantown Jazz Festival, the Villa-Lobos Festival, the Isabella Gardner Museum, Bienal de Música Contemporânea, Casa do Choro, Sala Cecília Meirelles, Sala Guiomar Novaes, Teatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, among other venues and festivals.

His 7th album as producer, composer, and bandleader, Imagine 5, was released in 2019. Additionally, his contributions as a sideman extend to over 40 albums, collaborating with a plethora of notable artists such as Luciana Souza, Toninho Horta, Filó Machado, Bruno Råberg, John Stein, Pablo Ablanedo, Matthew Nicholl, Michael Farquharson, Kris Adams, Jurandir Santana, Sergio Brandão, Alfredo Cardim, Lisa Thorson, Guinga, Ivan Lins, Rosa Passos, Joyce Moreno, Oscar Castro-Neves, Altamiro Carrilho, Leni Andrade, Mário Adnet, Paulo Sérgio Santos, Leandro Braga, Bill Pierce, George Garzone, Greg Hopkins, Tim Ray, Philip Grenadier, Jason Palmer, Mark Walker, Devos, Quarteto de Cordas de São Paulo, among others.

As a soloist and chamber musician, he performed in duo with pianist Maria Teresa Madeira throughout Brazil. He also performed with the most prominent Brazilian orchestras, including the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira and the symphony orchestras from São Paulo, Campinas, Brasília, Minas Gerais, and Curitiba. In 2024, he performed his composition Recomeço for flute and string Orchestra with the Chamber Orchestra of Manaus.

He performed with Boston’s local Emmanuel Music Orchestra as principal flute under the late acclaimed music director Craig Smith and guest conductor Seiji Ozawa from 1996 through 2006, having recorded the St. Matthew Passion in 2000 and the Mozart Piano Concertos in Dm and Cm with Russell Sherman as a soloist in 2002.

Mr. Brandão has been a Professor in the Ensemble Department at Berklee College of Music since 1996. With his expertise and dedication, he has shaped the educational landscape. Over the decades, Fernando has refined the ensemble curriculum for Brazilian music and introduced groundbreaking courses such as The History of Brazilian Music and Winds in Brazilian Music. His teaching extends to the courses Harmony in Brazilian Song, Improvisation Techniques, Jazz Ensemble classes, and Flute Performance.

He is also a teacher at Wellesley College and has taught ensembles at the Longy School of Music and the Community Music Center of Boston, where he was a flute teacher for 26 years. His expertise in Brazilian music is widely recognized, and he has shared his knowledge through lectures at various institutions, including Boston College, Wellesley College, Boston University, Boston Conservatory, Northeastern University, New England Conservatory, and the University of New Mexico. In Brazil, he was a guest teacher at Unirio, Villa-Lobinhos, Conservatório Brasileiro de Música, and he taught and performed at several Flute Festivals organized by d by the ABRAF, the Brazilian Flute Association.

As a producer at Berklee, Fernando has brought notable talents like Oscar Castro-Neves, Guinga, Joyce Moreno, and, in 2024, the Dani and Débora Gurgel Quartet when they performed with an all Berklee student Big Band.

Launched by the prestigious German publishing house Advance Music, Fernando is the author of the educational book Brazilian and Afro-Cuban Jazz Conception, published in English, German, and Japanese and sold worldwide. The project included contributions from Leandro Braga, Paulo Sérgio Santos, and Jessé Sadoc, among others. As a composer, his music was recorded by Choro das Três, the New World Guitar Trio, and mandolinist Almir Cortes.

Fernando has won several national competitions in Brazil, including the Jovens Concertistas Brasileiros, the Solistas da Orquestra Sinfônica do Espirito Santo, the Jovens Solistas da Música Brasileira, and the Concurso Eldorado. In Boston, he won the 1991 Pappoutsakis Flute Competition. He has been a board member of the James Pappoutsakis Foundation since 2005.

Academically, Fernando holds a bachelor’s degree from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, a master’s degree from the New England Conservatory in Boston, and an Artist Diploma from the Longy School of Music. His commitment to excellence in music and education continues to have a significant impact on the wider musical community.

Fernando has long been a resource for students and performers of choro in the Boston area. For how long, you ask? Here’s a 2008 video from one such project, Choro Democratico, playing a Brandão composition. Those who have been to Choro Camp before may want to play a game: before you read the description, see if you recognize any of the other musicians. 🙂