Paulo Oliveira
Associate Professor, Guitar
College of Music & Performing Arts
Biography
Dr. Paulo Oliveira is an active soloist, chamber musician, arranger, and educator who is equally at ease in the classical, jazz, and commercial worlds. In 2017 he joined the guitar faculty at Belmont University, teaching applied guitar, group seminars, coaching ensembles, and performing with faculty ensembles. A native of São Paulo, Brazil, Oliveira has taught and performed in South America, Europe, and across the United States. Oliveira has won awards in competitions both in Brazil and the United States, including the Villa-Lobos Conservatory, Bruce Ekstrand Memorial Competition, Emerging Artists-Missouri, Souza Lima Conservatory, and Middle Tennessee State University Competition. He has been awarded full scholarships to attend prestigious international festivals, including the Aspen Music Festival and Campos do Jordão Winter Festival.
Oliveira has appeared with Missouri Symphony’s Hot Summer Nights Pops Series. With the University of Missouri Concert Jazz Band, he performed and recorded with renowned musicians, including Christian McBride, Jimmy Greene, John Clayton, Randy Brecker, Sean Jones, and Mike Manieri.
An avid chamber musician, he formed the Oliveira-Willett Duo with oboist Dan Willett in 2012. Together they have performed and taught across the United States, Brazil, and France. The Duo’s first record "Two Hemispheres" features original arrangements of works by American and Brazilian composers, including works by Oliveira himself. The repertoire exemplifies contrasts and pairings intrinsic to the Duo: two generations, two styles, two countries, two cultures-two hemispheres. With Belmont University faculty member and saxophonist Dr. Alex Graham, Oliveira started a project where they perform original compositions and arrangements for guitar and soprano saxophone. The duo recently performed at the prestigious North American Saxophone Alliance Conference.
Oliveira received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Colorado Boulder. He holds degrees from University of Missouri Columbia, Universidade Cruzeiro do Sul, and Escola Municipal de Música de São Paulo. His teachers and mentors include Lorenzo Michelli, Matteo Mela, Jonathan Leathwood, Sharon Isbin, Anthony Glise, Nicolò Spera, Sean Hennessy, Arthur White, Henrique Pinto, Paulo Porto Alegre, Debora Gurgel, Conrado Paulino, and Luciano Moraes.