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Cassio Vianna

Jazz Composer

About Me

Cassio Vianna is a pianist, arranger, music educator, clinician, and an award-winning composer whose work reflects a broad range of musical and cultural influences. Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Vianna started his music studies in classical music, while developing his skills as a composer and interpreter of popular music and Brazilian jazz. Between 1993 and 1995, Vianna studied under Hungarian teacher Ian Guest, who had a great impact on Vianna's decision to pursue a career as a composer.

?From 1996 to 2009, Vianna engaged in recording and performing projects in the vibrant Rio de Janeiro music scene, including a successful career with the Brazilian jazz trio Dialeto Brasileiro. In 2009, Vianna moved to the U.S. to further his music studies.

?Cassio Vianna holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Uni-Rio), a Master of Music degree from Western Oregon University, and a Doctor of Arts degree in Jazz Studies from the University of Northern Colorado, where he studied with David Caffey.

Vianna��s arrangements have been performed by artists such as Eric Marienthal, Chris Potter, Ernie Watts, Martha Reeves, Tony Kadleck, Greg Gisbert, Danny Gottlieb, Clay Jenkins, Brad Goode, the United States Army Field Band (Jazz Ambassadors), the UNC/Greeley Jazz Festival All-Star Big Band, Chuck Owen��s Jazz Surge Band, the Colorado Jazz Repertory Orchestra, and the UNC Jazz Lab Band I, among others.

Vianna's compositional styles range from popular music and Brazilian jazz to classical chamber pieces and works for large jazz ensembles. His most recent albums include Letters to Grace: a Song Cycle (2011, Teal Creek Music), and Inf?ncia (2017, Teal Creek Music), his first CD with the Cassio VIanna Jazz Orchestra. The group's second album -- titled Vida -- will be released in January 2025. Cassio Vianna's jazz big band works are published by UNC Jazz Press.

?Over the past 15 years, Vianna has been featured as an adjudicator, performer, and clinician at jazz festivals and conferences in Latin America and across the U.S. In recent years, he has presented clinics and lectures at the Jazz Education Network Annual Conferences, the Midwest Clinic, International Composers' Symposium, NAfME Northwest Conference, and the Washington Music Educators Association Conference. Vianna is also a very active clinician with high school and college bands. In 2015, he traveled to China to perform and to teach a two-week program at the Guangxi Arts Institute.

Cassio Vianna lives in Tacoma, WA, where he is the Director of Jazz Studies, Associate Professor of Music at Pacific Lutheran University.