Singer, speech therapist, dancer, and movement director, Mariana Baltar is an artist who has been building her work through transdisciplinary processes. A doctoral candidate in Performing Arts at the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, she holds a degree in Speech Therapy from Veiga de Almeida University (RJ) and a Bachelor’s degree in Dance from Angel Vianna College (RJ). She has a specialization in Pedagogy and Technology for Voice and Singing from the Spanish university UNED, in Singing from Faculdade Novo Horizonte (FNH), in Voice from CEFAC, and training in Muscle and Joint Chains GDS – Posture and Movement. She teaches postgraduate courses in Integrated Voice Training (FIV-CEV) and Specialization in Singing Voice at FNH.
Dancing from an early age, she was a member of Cia. Aérea de Dança for 13 years: a company born under the big top of Circo Voador that developed a language that mixed Brazilian popular dances – especially samba – with modern and contemporary dances in an innovative way. She participated in numerous tours around the world, sometimes with the company’s shows, sometimes accompanying artists such as Paulo Moura, Jorge Ben Jor, and Zeca Pagodinho.
It was dance that led her to music, starting as a singer was the Gafieira Dance Brasil project, conceived by Paulo Moura and Cliff Korman, which premiered at Lincoln Center in New York in 2001. For five years, she was part of the Lapa circuit in Rio de Janeiro, entertaining audiences at the Centro Cultural Carioca, where she was a founding partner. In 2006, she released the album Uma dama também quer se divertir (A Lady Wants to Have Fun Too), which was nominated for the 2007 TIM Award (Best New Artist). Her second CD (Biscoito Fino / 2010) brought together contemporary composers and gems of Brazilian music: unreleased songs by composers such as Thiago Amud and Edu Kneip and re-recordings by renowned names such as Assis Valente and Wilson Moreira. Her third CD, Tresvarios (Tratore / 2013), celebrates the partnership between composers Luiz Flavio Alcofra and Mauro Aguiar. The launch show was considered by Belgian critic Daniel Achedjian as one of the 10 best of the year on the Rio/São Paulo circuit. In 2019, she released, in partnership with the sextet Água de Moringa, the album Os Arcos – Paixão e Morte, a tribute to composer Aldir Blanc. In 2025, she joined Cordão do Boitatá – an important Rio carnival block of which she is a partner singer – in the project O Baile da Música Brasileira, a series of eight shows that featured names such as Elba Ramalho, Geraldo Azevedo, Lia de Itamaracá, Spok, Teresa Cristina, Marcos Sacramento, and Roberta Sá, among others. In 2026, she will celebrate the 20th anniversary of her first album with a new recording.
In Brazilian musical theater, she has performed as an actress/singer in shows such as Império and Memórias de um gigolô (both directed by Miguel Falabella), Ary Barroso – Do Princípio ao Fim (directed by Diogo Vilella), and Sassaricando (directed by Claudio Botelho and Charles Moeller). As a choreographer, she participated in productions such as Jardim Secreto (a children’s show directed by Rafaela Amado) and Mulheres do Brasil (a musical directed by Sérgio Módena and Gustav Wabner).
In stage and movement direction for shows, she has worked with the group PianOrquestra and singers Valéria Lobão and Lili Araújo, in addition to artistic direction for the project Na Lira da Canção, a tribute to Paraíba singer/songwriter Socorro Lira, performed by Ana Costa, Dorina, and Lu Oliveira.
As a speech therapist and vocal coach, she works in clinical and professional voice, with extensive experience in concerts and plays. Her most recent works were the musicals Martinho, Coração de Rei – O Musical (2024-2025), with Alan Rocha and a large cast, and Os Olhos de Nara Leão (2024-2025), starring Zeze Polessa, both written and directed by Miguel Falabella.
