Gustavo Tavares is “Doctor of Musical Arts” and a versatile musician, playing frequently not only with classical but also with jazz and popular artists. He has performed throughout his home country, Brazil, and in some of the most famous concert halls and festivals around the world. He has appeared as soloist as well as conductor with many orchestras, including the Orchestra d’Archi Italiana, the National Theater Orchestra in Brasília, the Brazilian National Symphony, the Johannesburg Philharmonic, the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra among others, and many composers have written especially for him. He has been described as “one of the most important Brazilian names in the classical music of our time” (Correio Braziliense, 3.27.2005) and is considered a specialist on Latin American music. In 1995, together with clarinetist Paquito d’Rivera and pianist Pablo Zinger, he created the ensemble Triangulo, which according to American critic C.Berg helped «redefine the basic assumptions of chamber music». With this ensemble he has presented a diverse Latin American music repertoire for audiences throughout the world, and the ensemble recorded several CDs. One of the ensemble recordings was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2001, and yet another was listed as “Record of the Year, 1997” by the Brazilian newspaper “O Estado de São Paulo”. Also active as composer and arranger, his work has been performed and recorded by artists such as YoYo Ma, the Venice Cello Ensemble and the Buenos Aires String Quartet. He has received commissions by important festivals and organizations, including “Suoni delle Dolomiti”, the city of Zagreb, “Amici della Musica Venice” and the Norwegian National Concerts Agency (Rikskonsertene). In 2005, he made several arrangements for the CD “Riberas” by the Buenos Aires Quartet, a production awarded with a Latin Grammy for “Best Classical” CD. He is author of the book “Brazilian music for cello and guitar: on the corner of the classical and the popular”, written in co-authorship with Nelson Faria. He has been a student of Antonio Janigro at the Stuttgart Musik Hochschule, in Germany, where he graduated with the highest marks in 1986, and, while working towards his Doctorate, he was also assistant of Bernard Greenhouse at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Tavares enjoys teaching and this activity has brought him in contact with talented young musicians not just in well established conservatories and festivals of many countries but also in poor neighbourhoods of Africa and the Americas. Gustavo Tavares has been awarded many important prizes in recognition for his work, among these he received the “Brazilian International Press Award” and was made “Officer” of the Order of “Rio Branco”, one of the most important recognitions given to an individual in Brazil.