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João Kouyoumdjian

João Kouyoumdjian is a Brazilian-Armenian guitarist known for his recorded interpretations of J.S. Bach and Brazilian guitar works. Also a passionate educator, he created an outreach program that provided musical instruction to hundreds of underprivileged children in São Paulo, and he teaches at several schools in New York. He grew up in São José do Rio Preto, Brazil, and began playing the electric guitar when he was 12 years old. He initially became interested in Brazilian bossa nova and samba and started taking lessons from Preto Moreno in 1996. Around the age of 16, he discovered his passion for classical guitar, and since there were no classical guitar instructors in his area, he moved to São Paulo and became a student of Paulo Martelli. From 2003 to 2006, he studied under Edelton Gloeden at the University of São Paulo, followed by graduate studies with Sharon Isbin at the Juilliard School in New York. It was around this time when Kouyoumdjian received a Juilliard Summer Grant for his Guitar Horizons outreach program, which provided musical instruction for approximately 500 underprivileged children in São Paulo. He also participated in the Movimento Violão guitar concert series in São Paulo. After he completed his master’s degree in 2010, he won first place in the 21st Souza Lima National Guitar Competition in São Paulo, and in 2011 he made his debut at Carnegie Hall, where he premiered pieces by contemporary Brazilian composers Raimundo Penaforte and Ricardo Calderoni. The success from this performance led to the 2013 release of Surfboard: Solo Guitar Works from Brazil on the Pomegranate Music label. Two years later, he released Kouyoumdjian Plays Bach: New Transcriptions for Guitar, which was well-received by critics. Kouyoumdjian began teaching at several schools in New York, including the Diller-Quaile School of Music, the Lucy Moses School, and the Newark School of the Arts. He explored his Armenian heritage in 2022 with the release of Gakavig Fantasy: Armenian Music Arranged & Composed for Classical Guitar. Kouyoumdjian resides in New York and remains very active as an educator, performer, and recording artist.
© RJ Lambert /TiVo
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Discography

14 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller

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