Diego Ferreira
About
Diego Ferreira is Bachelor of Music in Saxophone by Ufrgs - Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (2013), Master of Music in Jazz performance by New Jersey City University (2017) – where he studied under saxophonists Bob Malach, Walt Weiskopf and Jim Snidero – and Master of Music in Composition by New Jersey City University (2020), having studied with Spanish composer Amparo Fabra.
In the years of 2009 - 2010, Diego took private lessons with guitarist/composer/author Julio “Chumbinho” Herrlein. In the meantime, he established himself into the music scene of his hometown, Porto Alegre (Brazil). Working as a sideman for a number of singer-songwriters in Brazil, Diego performed at Festival Nacional da Canção (Minas Gerais - Brazil), Festival de Música e Ecologia de Angra dos Reis (Rio de Janeiro - Brazil), Femupo (São Paulo - Brazil), having received the first prize on many of them and awarded as “Best Instrumentalist” at Tertulia da Canção Nativa (2011) and 25th Moenda da Canção (2011). In addition to having participated actively in the Brazilian music scene since his mid teens, Diego has been performing regularly in New York City since 2015.
Diego has performed with Julio “Chumbinho” Herrlein, Emilio Valdes, Ricardo Baumgarten, Kiko Freitas, Edu Martins and Orquestra de Câmara do Theatro São Pedro, Vinicius Dorin, Di Steffano, Bibi Ferreira, Luiz Brasil, Alan Ferber, Catherine Russell, Chris Byars, Graciliano Zambonin, Peter Slavov, Felipe Viegas, Sergio Galvão, Mauricio Zotarelli, Daniel Sá, among others. Featured as special guest on Brazilian bassist Ricardo Baumgarten's album "O Encontro" (2010) and pianist Cristian Sperandir’s “Bons Ventos” (2018), Diego Ferreira appears on a number of records such as "Arquitetônicos" (2015), by trumpeter Marcos Santos, “The Observer” (2016) by New York based jazz fusion band Moon Sugar, “Angico” (2019) by New York brazilian drummer Graciliano Zambonin, to name a few.
Diego Ferreira has worked as instructor, lecturer and performer in the most important saxophone and instrumental music events in Brazil, such as: II ESAX - International saxophone congress in Brasília (2015), I Encontro Internacional de Saxofonistas – Porto Alegre (2016), III Feminsap – Amapá, Brazil (2011), Festival de Música de Teutonia (2017). In the academic field, Diego has taught as saxophone student- instructor at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in the years of 2009 - 2010 and more recently as Adjunct faculty at New Jersey City University, in 2018.
Diego Ferreira has been teaching privately for over 15 years. Each lesson is adapted to the individual student's needs, focusing on saxophone technique (sound production, posture) and/or jazz improvisation.