2023 Trester Festival for Latin American Piano Music

Alesssandra Feris
University of South Dakota

Brazilian-American pianist Diego Caetano was considered by the Italian newspaper La Stampa “a gifted pianist with a brilliant technique and musicality.” He has been performing widely as soloist and chamber musician throughout the USA, Brazil, Chile, Europe, Asia, and Africa, including performances at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Yokohama’s Philia Hall, Lisbon’s Palácio da Foz, Rio de Janeiro’s Sala Cecília Meireles, and London’s Royal Albert Hall.

He has worked with conductors such as Michael Palmer, Paul Hostetter, Neil Thomson, Rodrigo de Carvalho, Guilherme  Bernstein, Joaquim Jayme, Daniel Guedes, and others. He has been featured in recitals and concerto appearances at the Grand Teton Music Festival, Louisiana International Piano Series,  Durango’s Conservatory Music of the Mountains, Bangkok’s Asia Pacific Saxophone Academy, and Brasília’s International Music Festival. An advocate for contemporary music, he has premiered works by composers Robert Spillman, Anne Guzzo, Marlos Nobre, Roger Goeb, and Guilherme Bernstein.

Diego Caetano maintains an active schedule as an educator. He has frequently served as a masterclass clinician and competition adjudicator in various universities and conservatories around the globe and has presented at various national and international conferences about pedagogical works by Brazilian composers, effective practicing techniques, and performance anxiety.  His students have received prizes at national and international piano competitions. He is a member of Duo Lispector with Russian violinist Evgeny Zvonnikov and a member of Resch – Caetano Duo with German tenor Richard Resch. He has recently released the CD “French Connection: Violin Sonatas of the 20th Century” with violinist Evgeny Zvonnikov for the Italian-Japanese label DaVinci Classics.

Dr. Caetano received the top prizes in more than fifty national and international piano competitions, including Città di Massa Concorso per Giovani Musicisti, Bonn Prize International Music Competition, Bucharest Pro Piano International Piano Competition, International Piano Competition HR Princess Lalla Meryem, MTNA Young Artist – Steinway & Sons, “Arnaldo Estrella” Piano Competition, and many more. He has also won special awards including Best Interpreter of Brazilian Composers, Best Interpreter of Spanish Composers, and Prix d’Excellence in Performance.

Dr. Caetano graduated with a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder, a Master of Music degree from the University of Wyoming, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Universidade Federal de Goiás (Brazil). Caetano has studied under the guidance of Dr. David Korevaar, Bob Spillman, Dr. Theresa Bogard, Dr. Maria Helena Jayme, and Lílian Carneiro de Mendonça. He also studied with Dr. Nadezhda Eismont at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, in Russia.

He is the co-founder and Artistic Director at Ávila International Music Festival in Ávila (Spain).He was the President of the World Piano Teachers Association – Texas Chapter from 2016-2021. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of Piano at Sam Houston State University, and a Shigeru Kawai Artist.