Mr. Igor Ferreira

MM – Hartt School, University of Hartford (UHart)
BM – State University of Minas Gerais (UEMG)
BM – Industrial Engineering, Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG)

Brazilian-born pianist/tenor Igor Ferreira has a multifaceted career that has been presented in many different venues. Recently, he served as adjudicator for the Rising Pianists Competition, and was invited to be a Piano Clinician at the 2022 Hartt Suzuki Summer Institute, in Connecticut, and at the 2023 Green Mountain Suzuki Institute, in Vermont. He was featured in the Brazilian TV show Segunda Musical on TV ALMG in the years of 2008, 2009 and 2011, being recorded live at the Teatro da Assembléia Legislativa de Minas Gerais, in Belo Horizonte/Brazil. Also, he was the artist who gave the inaugural concert of the Centro Cultural de Eventos Dep. Nárcio Rodrigues, the main cultural center building of the city of Itapagipe/MG.The pianist was a featured performer at the 2017 Arte Livre Festival, at the Clube do Concerto series, at the Concertos de Outono in 2018 and most importantly, at the 6th Festival de Maio (2018), being invited to perform in a concert dedicated to one of the most important Brazilian composer: Edino Krieger. The composer was in the audience, as his 90th Birthday was being celebrated.


Mr. Ferreira is a Master of Music Arts program in Piano Performance, degree received by the University of Hartford under tutelage of Prof. Frederic Chiu and Prof. David Westfall. His thesis “Six Chants Polonaises de Chopin S.480 by Liszt: A distinguished case of transcribing a composer’s style” analyses Franz Liszt’s piano transcriptions of Frederic Chopin’s Polish songs, and how they showcase what Liszt understands as the main stylistic contributions of Chopin, as well as ways the technical implementation of them. He received hi Bachelor’s degrees in Piano Performance from the State University of Minas Gerais (UEMG) under tutelage of Prof. Junia Canton.

As a lyrical tenor, Mr. Ferreira has a soloist career and in 2023, he was featured along with Manchester Symphony Orchestra and Chorale (directed by Carolina Flores) and with the Crescendo Chorus and Ensemble (directed by Christine Gevert), which was described by the press as “… sublimely and furiously lyrical.” Also, in 2022 he soloed with the Hartt Symphony Orchestra and Hartt Choirs (directed by Anthony Trecek-King). He is currently a student of Benjamin Rauch. As a chorist, Mr. Ferreira was a section leader in 2019-2020 of the Hartt Chamber Choir (conducted by Edward Bolkovac). Most importantly, he was a tenured member Coral Lírico de Minas Gerais, a historic 40-years-old state professional opera/symphonic choir (declared as a patrimony of the State of Minas Gerais) that is housed in the Palácio das Artes, at the city of Belo Horizonte, alongside the Orquestra Sinfônica de Minas Gerais. He has taken part in many operatic super-productions such as Carmen, Lucia de Lammermoor, Porgy and Bess, La Traviata, Rigoletto, The Flying Dutchman, Norma and many more. He also performed in the choir of the inaugural concert of the Sala Minas Gerais, the most acoustic developed room of Latin America, that houses the Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais (OFMG). He was also part of A Cançāo das Iluminuras, a specialized early-music ensemble with a vast collection of early-music instruments.

This diversity of formation has made Mr. Ferreira an accomplished teacher, who held a private piano studio for 15 years. Some of his students have been awarded in Brazil and internationally. Many of them were accepted in top-rated Brazilian universities, being placed first in some of the admission processes. As a member of the Suzuki Association of Americas, he has been certified in Suzuki Teacher Training with Prof. Sachiko Isihara. He is faculty at the University of Hartford where he holds a Suzuki Piano studio, as well as one in the Suzuki Schools of Westport.

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY 

To study music, especially the piano, is to become a more complete human being. That is the reason I believe so eagerly in the importance of learning music as one of the basic skills of a child. It is the only art form that deals so directly and palpably with the rational and analytical aspects on one side, and with the phenomenon of emotion and expressiveness on the other. Music teaches invaluable skills such as perseverance, discipline, non-perfectionism, in-depth listening (not just to music, but to yourself and others), courage, problem-solving, cultural diversity acquisition and empathy. 

The Suzuki method ensures that a child learns and understands the necessary skills to play music in a way that is personal and thorough. It allows the student to deal with matters that might otherwise be considered unattainable at a young age such as sound quality, refinement of performance, style and artistry. As a Suzuki teacher, I realized that by striving to pave the most thorough path for musicianship, the main benefit is not simply the ability to play an instrument with true quality (which does come, and is surely welcomed and celebrated), but the enormous transformation that the learning process brings to the child, to the entire family and to society.