João Catalão

Native of Brasilia (Brazil) in 1977, João Catalão started learning music at age 7 at the Brasilia School of Music (EMB) in violin and later in percussion in 1993. Between 1996 and 2000 he studied with Ney Rosauro at the Santa Maria Federal University. In 2001, he became percussion professor at EMB and won the second and third prizes in the Brazil-PAS comosition contest. In 2002, he won the young soloists competition of the Salvador Symphony Orchestra.

With a scholarship of the Barzio Culture Ministry, he went to France to pursue his training with Emmanuel Séjourné in Strasbourg and obtained a Diploma in percussion keyboards in 2004.

João Catalão participated in many festivals: Festival Szene - Salzburg, Festival Van Vlaanderen – Brussells, Festival Musica – Strasbourg, MNM – Montréal, Festival Pan-Americano of Percussion – Brazil. He has worked with composers such as Claudio Gabrielli, Yan Maresz, Thierry de Mey, Yuval Shaked, Frédéric Khan, Joel Chadabe, Walter Boudreau and many others.

Between 2003 and 2006, he played with« Linea », a contemporary music group, taking part in the presentation of new works as well as 20th century classics.

In 2005 he was finalist at the Concours International de Luxembourg (6th Edition) with percussion quartet K-TZ. K-TZ works on the development of instrumental contemporary music and theater music, and has performed on several festivals stages in Brazil, Latin America and Europe. The quartet has recorded the complete catalog of Ney Rosauro's works for percussion

João Catalão is also a member of Jaboti, a Brasilian jazz group that has performed in festivals inFrance and made its first recortding in 2005

Currently, with a scholarship of the Education Ministry of Brazil, João Catalão pursues his personnal research in a doctoral program at Université de Montréal with Robert Leroux. He is also a member of the contemporary jazz group « IKS ».

In Montreal, he has performed in a concert at the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec in partership with CBC for a special tribute tu american composer Steve Reich with the University of Montreal Percussion Ensemble.

Since 2008, João Catalão has been a member of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT)at McGill University as student coordinator in the Expanded Musical Practice research axis.