Workshop "Brazilian Choro"

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The workshop is open to students and staff at the HfMT as well as the general public. Anyone wishing to actively participate in the workshop must register by emailing nikolai.voigt@posteo.de, specifying their instrument and bringing it to the workshop. Prerequisites for melodic instruments are the ability to read music fluently; for harmonic instruments, the ability to play chords; and for percussion instruments, a solid sense of rhythm, a good ear, and a high degree of interactivity!
However, you’re also welcome to just watch—everyone is warmly invited!

Choro—also known as “Chorinho”—is instrumental music played in an ensemble and is Brazil’s oldest urban music style. In Choro, classical European harmonies and musical forms such as the waltz and polka meet Afro-Brazilian rhythms like the maxixe or samba. This multicultural blend creates a unique sound, enhanced by traditional Brazilian instruments such as the pandeiro, the cavaquinho, the 7-string guitar, and the bandolim.

Brazilian musicians Adriano Trabach (recorder) and Adriana Soares (pandeiro), along with Hamburg-based guitarist Nikolai Voigt (7-string guitar), will lead a workshop offering an introduction to the history of choro and ensemble playing in this genre. The goal is to convey what defines choro and to explore the unique characteristics and possibilities of this music when played together.
The first part provides an overview of the history, instruments, and form of the music, and demonstrates how this tradition—dating back more than 150 years—is kept alive in Brazil today. The second part is a hands-on introduction involving group playing, with a focus on all aspects of melody, accompaniment, and rhythm in selected pieces. Afterward, all participants should have the foundation needed to successfully join in on a “Roda de Choro” (Choro jam session).

Adriano da Silva Trarbach (born 2001), a Brazilian recorder player and cellist, has been living in Germany since 2018, when he received a scholarship for an exchange year. Born in S. Jerônimo-RS, Brazil, he began learning the recorder in 2011 and later the cello as part of the Dorcas Project, which supports children and young people in the Bonfim neighborhood of the Curitiba-PR metropolitan area. He is currently studying cello in Prof. Clemens Malich’s class at the Hamburg University of Music and Drama, where he also successfully completed his recorder studies with Prof. Peter Holtslag in the summer of 2023. Adriano is also deeply engaged in Baroque cello performance. In the 2024 season, he will join the renowned Holland Baroque ensemble as a Young Fellow.

Adriana Soares grew up immersed in the choro tradition in her hometown of Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais), where she regularly participated in traditional rodas de choro. Her primary instrument in choro is the pandeiro, a percussion instrument. After many years of teaching music in Brazil, she began studying classical flute at “Mensch Musik” in the fall of 2022 and started initiating further musical projects in Hamburg focused on Brazilian popular music.

Nikolai Voigt is musically at home in both classical music and South American popular music, particularly Brazilian choro. Since 2018, he has been pursuing a master’s degree in guitar at the Hamburg University of Music and Drama under Professor Olaf van Gonnissen. Various stays abroad and music projects broadened his horizons and helped him develop into a versatile musician. For example, during his bachelor’s studies at the Robert Schumann University of Music from 2014 to 2015, he participated in an exchange program at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and during his master’s program from 2020 to 2022, he spent time in South America (Uruguay and Brazil), where he studied 7-string guitar and choro.
He has a particular interest in collaboration and ensemble work with other musicians. He has performed in various configurations, including duos with two guitars, guitar and vocals, and with different choro ensembles. In 2022, he toured Germany and Italy with the Trio Candeeiro. He also teaches guitar at the State Youth Music School in Hamburg.

Eintritt frei

Registration is required
If you would like to participate actively, please send an email to nikolai.voigt@posteo.de stating your instrument.
For participation as a listener, please register via eventbrite.