Paulo Bellinati

Violonista (acoustic guitar player) Paulo Bellinati has achieved a precise balance between classical music’s sophistication and popular music’s spontaneity, without any compromises. In 1988, his composition “Jongo” was awarded and would go on to be recorded by John Williams in 1996. Other famous classical guitarists to record his pieces, which reinvent Brazilian folkloric rhythms from Bellinati’s perspective, were fellow Brazilians Carlos Barbosa-Lima and the Duo Assad. As a child, his father taught him how to play the guitar. At 17, he studied at the Conservatório Dramático e Musical de São Paulo, where he took classes with Isaías Sávio. Receiving a scholarship to study in Genève (Switzerland), Bellinati attended the conservatory there and then taught at the Conservatory of Lausanne. In the ’80s, he became a member of Pau Brasil, recording five albums with them. As a researcher, he developed a noted project on the music of fundamental composer/guitarist Garoto, releasing an LP in 1986 and a CD in 1991 (The Guitar Works of Garoto, with two companion sheet music books). The CD was given five stars in CD Review magazine. As an arranger, he received the Sharp prize for Gal Costa’s CD O Sorriso do Gato de Alice. He also wrote arrangements for Edu Lobo, Leila Pinheiro, and Vânia Bastos. ~ Alvaro Neder