East Moline, IL
Adolfo Mendonca has been performing and teaching music for more than 20 years. He has performed jazz clubs and festivals in Brazil, US, France, and Mexico and some of his most recent activities as a performer include performances at the Blue Note (Sao Paulo), in Florida (United States) a 3rd place at the Guiomar Novaes national piano competition in Brazil, several presentations in world class conferences and masterclasses in Latin American leading universities and conservatories. His first album is currently being mixed and will jazz improvisation with electronic instruments, with influences of Brazilian music, American jazz and rock.
As an educator, Adolfo has been a full-time instructor at Guarulhos Conservatory in Brazil for several years and has been teaching piano lessons for more than 20 years. Adolfo has also taught masterclasses in several top-10 Latin American universities and conservatories, including USP, Unicamp, Unesp, EMESP, UEM, UFPA and dozen others. In the US, he has been invited for guest lectures at the University of Northern Iowa, Cuesta College, St Petersburg College and others. His several guest lectures frequently discuss the aesthetics of American jazz improvisation and Brazilian music, in addition to intercultural perspectives in music education. He is currently instructing music methods at the University of Iowa. He has alsopresented in conferences of organized by the Jazz Education Network (JEN), the International Society for Jazz Arrangers and Composers (ISJAC), the National Association for Music Education (NAFME), the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM) and the University of Edinburgh and others, in addition to receiving an outstanding award while attending his master’s degree at the University of South Florida.
Adolfo is currently pursuing a PhD in Music Teaching and Learning at the University of Iowa, where, as a researcher, he is particularly interested in the benefits of improvisation practices on amateur and professional musician, in facilitating the access of students from low-income countries to US music programs and in promoting intercultural perspectives for jazz pedagogy. Adolfo had lessons with prestigious instructors in the US and Brazil, such as Lynne Arriale, Chuck Owen, Mark Taylor, Chris Rottmayer, Per Danielsson, Arrigo Barnabe and Nailor Azevedo “Proveta”. In addition to his current PhD studies at the U. of Iowa, his education includes almost 20 years of studies in music and the Liberal Arts.
Wednesday, January 4, 2023
6:00 PM – 6:25 PM US EST