BM – State University of Minas Gerais
MM – Hartt School, University of Hartford
Industrial Engineering – Fedederal University of Minas Gerais
Brazilian-born pianist Igor Ferreira is a pianist and singer with a multifaceted career that has been presented in many different venues. He has also been featured in the Brazilian TV show Segunda Musical on TV ALMG in the years of 2008, 2009 and 2011, being recorded live at the Teatro da Assembléia Legislativa de Minas Gerais, in Belo Horizonte/Brazil. Also, he was the artist who gave the inaugural concert of the Centro Cultural de Eventos Dep. Nárcio Rodrigues, the main cultural center building of the city of Itapagipe/MG.The pianist was a featured performer at the 2017 Arte Livre Festival, at the Clube do Concerto series, at the Concertos de Outono in 2018 and most importantly, at the 6th Festival de Maio (2018), being invited to perform in a concert dedicated to one of the most important Brazilian composer: Edino Krieger. The composer was in the audience, as his 90th Birthday was being celebrated.
Mr. Ferreira is a Master of Music Arts program in Piano Performance, degree received by the University of Hartford under tutelage of Prof. Frederic Chiu and Prof. Davi Westfal. His thesis “Six Chants Polonaises de Chopin S.480 by Liszt: A distinguished case of transcribing a composer’s style” analyses Franz Liszt’s piano transcriptions of Frederic Chopin’s Polish songs, and how they showcase what Liszt understands as the main stylistic contributions of Chopin, as well as ways the technical implementation of them. He also has received two Bachelor’s degrees: one in Piano Performance from the State University of Minas Gerais (UEMG), and another one in Industrial Engineering from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG).
As a lyrical tenor, Mr. Ferreira was a tenured member of the Coral Lírico de Minas Gerais (CLMG), which is the professional stable symphony/opera choir of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, housed in the Palácio das Artes alongside the state’s orchestra, the Orquestra Sinfônica de Minas Gerais (OSMG). He has taken part in many operatic super-productions such as Carmen, Lucia de Lammermoor, Porgy and Bess, La Traviata, Rigoletto, The Flying Dutchman, Norma and many more. He also performed in the choir of the inaugural concert of the Sala Minas Gerais, the most acoustic developed room of Latin America, that houses the Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais (OFMG). He was also part of A Cançāo das Iluminuras, a specialized early-music ensemble with a vast collection of early-music instruments.
This diversity in formation has made Mr. Ferreira an accomplished teacher, who held a private piano studio for 15 years. Some of his students have been awarded in Brazil and internationally. Many of them were accepted in top-rated Brazilian universities, being placed first in some of the admission processes. As a member of the Suzuki Association of Americas, he has been certified in Suzuki Teacher Training with Prof. Sachiko Isihara. He is faculty at the University of Hartford where he holds a Suzuki Piano studio.
Recently, he was the Piano Clinician of the 2022 The Hartt Suzuki Institute for the Summer.
To study music, especially the piano, is to become a more complete human being. That is the reason I believe so eagerly in the importance of learning music as one of the basic skills of a child. It is the only art that deals so directly and palpably with the rational and analytical aspects on one side, and with the phenomenon of emotion and expressiveness on the other. Music teaches invaluable skills such as perseverance, discipline, in-depth listening (not just to music, but to yourself and others), courage, problem-solving, cultural diversity acquisition and empathy.
The Suzuki method ensures that a child learns and understands the necessary skills to play music in a way that is personal and thorough. It allows the student to deal with matters that might otherwise be considered unattainable at a young age such as sound quality, refinement of performance, style and artistry. As a Suzuki teacher, I realize that by striving to pave the most thorough path for musicianship, the main benefit is not simply the ability to play an instrument with true quality (which does come, and is surely welcomed and celebrated), but the enormous transformation that the learning process brings to the child, to the entire family and to society.
