Bio

Brazilian bassoonist André Januário maintains an international portfolio career as a performing artist, music lecturer, and researcher. André's current artistic activities center on two United States-based projects, the Trillium Wind Quintet and Split Reed, a bassoon-and-saxophone duo, alongside his role as an associate researcher at McGill University's Input Devices and Music Interaction Laboratory in Montréal (Canada). His artistic inquiry is devoted to expanding the contemporary Brazilian bassoon repertoire and to its research-informed performance practice.

In 2026, André Januário's Brazilian-centered programming will be featured at the International Double Reed Society Conference through a major commission and two premieres. He was named one of six winners of the 2026 International Double Reed Society Commissioning Grant, marking the Society's 50th anniversary. At the IDRS Conference, he will premiere Serenata e Maracatu, composed for him by Brazilian composer Gilson Santos, and debut his arrangement of Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 for bassoon and saxophone, dedicated to the Split Reed Duo. Furthering this Brazilian-focused repertoire, his 2026-2027 concert season will also feature his arrangements for voice and bassoon of songs by Tom Jobim.

Dr. Januário's ongoing scholarship focuses on applied performance science, investigating the interplay between postural mechanics and tone in bassoonists. His research report has been accepted for presentation at the 2025 International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition. His previous research examined the early Paris Conservatoire curriculum framework and its lasting effects on U.S. higher education music institutions; analyzed master–apprentice pedagogical models and their implications for contemporary teaching; and surveyed 21st-century skills and technological literacy in music training.

He has served as assistant principal bassoonist with the Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro Symphony Orchestra and as principal bassoonist with the Caxias do Sul Symphony Orchestra and the Theatro São Pedro Chamber Orchestra in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and his performances have been broadcast on WPLN in Nashville, Radio MEC in Rio de Janeiro, and U92 FM in West Virginia. He has also performed and lectured internationally, including appearances at major Brazilian festivals such as the International Festival of Brazilian Colonial Music and Early Music, the Sesc International Music Festival, and the Brazilian Contemporary Music Biennial. He has previously held teaching appointments at Middle Tennessee State University, West Virginia University, and the University of Caxias do Sul, and has presented on Brazilian music and culture, woodwind pedagogy, bassoon, and chamber music at secondary and higher education institutions across the United States, Argentina, and Canada.

André's musical training spans leading bassoon pedagogues in Brazil and advanced graduate studies in the United States. In Rio de Janeiro, he studied bassoon and chamber music with Noël Devos at the Villa-Lobos Music School and Aloysio Fagerlande at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He further developed his chamber music studies at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina and the Conservatoire de Musique et de Danse de Sèvres in France. His bassoon teachers also include Milan Turkovic, Fabio Cury, and Alexandre Silvério. In the United States, he completed both master's and doctoral degrees at West Virginia University, specializing in Bassoon Performance and Pedagogy and Instrumental Conducting, studying with Lynn Hileman (bassoon) and Scott Tobias, Mitchell Arnold, and Kym Scott (conducting).