About
Thiago Tiberio
Born in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, I began my studies in jazz piano and music theory with Márvio Ciribelli, an influential pianist and bearer of the legacy of Antônio Adolfo, Luizinho Eça and Ian Guest—all masters of Brazilian jazz piano, theory and composition.
Moving to the United States in 1998, I studied classical piano with Dr. Robin Garner at Mars Hill College, North Carolina, from where I graduated summa cum laude in May of 2004 (B.A. in Music and B.S. in Business Administration). Later, I continued my studies with Dewitt Tipton, a student of Kenneth Drake and John Wustman (Univ. Illinois), who works regularly for New York City's Metropolitan Opera and is the founding director of the Asheville Symphony Chorus.
Through this dedicated study of classical piano, combined with the knowledge and continual practice of jazz, I developed a pianistic technique which allows me to exist in both worlds, sometimes simultaneously.
As for composition, I began my studies with Dr. Douglas Gordon at Mars Hill College. Then I studied composition and conducting with Dr. Robert Hart Baker, conductor of the Asheville Symphony (laureate), the York Symphony and the St. Louis Philharmonic orchestras. Dr. Baker carries the great lineage of Herbert von Karajan, Aaron Copeland, Leonard Bernstein and Richard Strauss. I also studied composition with Jack Smalley and orchestration with his son, S. Scott Smalley, orchestrator of "Batman" and "Mission: Impossible" in Los Angeles, California.
Working in jazz, I was the founder, artistic director and pianist for Bossa Nossa Trio, an ensemble especialized in authentic Brazilian music. The trio was very successful for a number of years, until I dissolved it in order to focus completely on studying classical music—especially conducting, orchestration and composition.
In 2007, I return to the stage with a new ensemble, Banda Movimento, which, despite its heavy Brazilian influence, expands in style and repertoire into most of South America, especially Argentina. In other words, the attentive listener will hear samba, bossa, frêvo, baião, bolero, tango, milonga, and fusions of any of the aforementioned styles.
I currently live in Asheville, North Carolina, traveling occasionally to my home in Brazil.
—Thiago Tiberio
Richard Graham
New York-born Richard Graham is a percussionist, ethnomusicologist and cultural anthropologist who has spent many years of his life studying the music foreign cultures, especially Brazil. He has collected hundreds of instruments, songs and stories while traveling around the world and his educational programs, from which he lectures all over the United States, have been profiled on CNN, NBC, FOX, and ABC networks.
Richard, who is usually seen playing a berimbau, a one-stringed bow originally from Angola but widely used in Brazil, is credited with numerous performances with various ensembles in New York City, Memphis, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco. He is also a writer, being featured in many publications and cross-cultural books, both here and abroad.
Mr. Graham holds a B.A. in Ethnomusicology/Anthropology (magna cum laude) from University of Memphis, and has studied privately with José "Papo" Dadiego, Robert Pleasant, Michael Sirrota (Israel Philharmonic), Armen Halburian, Babatunde Olatunki, Nana Vasconcelos, and Glen Velez, to name a few.
He is the owner of Multicultural Music Productions and can be reached through e-mail.