Bio

Every choice I made brought me to this place in time.

(That's not true, but after some well-lived years, one should be able to twist and shape their own history to force it into making sense.)

I'm now a Bachelor in Viola da Gamba by the University of Arts Bremen (Hochschule für Künste Bremen), where I had the honor and privilege of studying with Hille Perl. 

I came to Bremen pursuing my lifelong dream of studying Music in Europe. A dream I had already renounced in my 20s, when I left my Musical Education Bachelor at the Universidade de Brasília, Brazil, to study Social Sciences. Which I also abandoned. Then Portuguese Linguistics and Literature - same fate. Then Museum Studies - this one I finally finished. Missing music in my life, I started learning viola da gamba at the Escola de Música de Brasília when I was 25, as a hobby. I had a nice, boring office job, and did music in my free time. I started arranging videogame soundtracks for the gamba and posting my covers on YouTube. Suddenly, the stars aligned and I gathered the courage to come to Germany and try and build a new life. 

After all, you only live once. 

(I feel like I've already lived many lives.)

Long before that I was a promising pianist, having performed a solo concerto with orchestra at the age of 8 in the Theatro da Paz, in Belém, Brazil. I studied Classical Piano seriously from 4 to, I don't know, 18 years old? At which point I was already learning Classical Singing. And I was conducting choirs. Arranging for choirs. Playing a bunch of videogames. Listening to a lot of Early, Romantic and Brazilian Music (I was never a fan of the Classical period). 

Today I'm one of the founders of the Brazilian Viola da Gamba Society. I composed and recorded for videogames, and I have more than 6.000 monthly listeners on Spotify, between covers and original work. I imagine and direct creative musical projects that mix traditional classical music with sound effects, new compositions, and violas da gamba. I sing and play Brazilian music. You can take a look at my past and current projects in my Performer and Composer pages. Besides that, there's the "normal" Early Music stuff: I play a lot with ensembles doing basso continuo on the viola da gamba or the violone, in viol consorts, and I've performed the famous viola da gamba solos of Bach's Passions in Berlin, Leipzig and Hamburg.

If you'd like to chat with me, you can send me a message on Instagram.

Contact me at agueda@thegambageek.com