December 13, 2024

Alumni of Manhattan School of Music’s guitar program, the rising-star guitar duo Eduardo Gutterres (MM ‘23, DMA ‘27) and Gabriele Leite (MM ‘22), performed in one of Brazil’s most prestigious concert series

The concert on December 1 by guitarists Eduardo Gutterres (MM ’23, DMA ’27) and Gabriele Leite (MM ’22) took place at the Teatro Cultura Artística in São Paulo, one of the most important venues in Brazil. The event was part of the reopening season of the theater which had been renovated after a fire devastated the building in 2009.

Earlier in the 2024 season, renowned artists such as Joshua Bell, Lang Lang, Janine Jansen, and Hélène Grimaud graced the same stage with their performances.

Eduardo and Gabriele’s concert was a resounding success, earning a standing ovation and applause that lasted nearly two minutes.

A special program to mark the theater reopening

The program was entirely dedicated to Brazilian composers. The duo opened and closed with two of the most celebrated Brazilian guitar works: Bate-Coxa by Marco Pereira and Jongo by Paulo Bellinati.

The repertoire also included the iconic Suíte Retratos by Radamés Gnattali and the Summer Garden Suite by Sergio Assad. Additionally, the program featured an original composition by Eduardo titled Ternura and his arrangement of the classic bossa nova piece Wave by Tom Jobim.

The award-winning duo met at MSM

Eduardo Gutterres and Gabriele Leite began performing as a duo in 2021 when they first arrived in New York City to pursue their master’s degrees at the Manhattan School of Music. During their studies, they enrolled in the chamber music course and were coached by David Leisner for two semesters.

That same year, they won the Lilian Fuchs Competition with their performance of Suíte Retratos by Radamés Gnattali. Since then, they have been actively performing and participating in internationally renowned events, including the opening concert of the United Nations Security Council Meeting, the musical opening for the Brazil-United States Chamber of Commerce’s Person of the Year 2022 event, and the Brazil Week, organized by CitiGroup.

In 2023, Eduardo and Gabriele won the Vienna Classic Strings International Competition in the chamber music category. Their trip to Austria was sponsored by the Guimarães Rosa Institute, a Brazilian governmental organization responsible for cultural diplomacy and promoting Brazilian culture abroad. That same year, the duo was invited by Sharon Isbin to participate in the Aspen Music Festival on a full scholarship (the Vincent Wilkinson Scholarship) provided by the Welters family.

Eduardo and Gabriele have been endorsed by the Augustine Strings since 2020.