João Kouyoumdjian

João Kouyoumdjian, a guitarist of Brazilian-Armenian descent, has built his reputation on recorded accounts of J.S. Bach alongside Brazilian repertoire for the instrument. Deeply committed to teaching, he founded the Guitar Horizons initiative, which delivered lessons to roughly 500 children from underserved communities in São Paulo, and he maintains faculty positions at multiple New York institutions. Raised in São José do Rio Preto, he first picked up the electric guitar at age twelve and gravitated toward bossa nova and samba, beginning formal study with Preto Moreno in 1996. By sixteen he had shifted his focus to classical technique; lacking local teachers, he relocated to São Paulo to work with Paulo Martelli. Between 2003 and 2006 he continued at the University of São Paulo under Edelton Gloeden, then pursued graduate work with Sharon Isbin at the Juilliard School. While there he obtained a Juilliard Summer Grant supporting Guitar Horizons and also appeared in São Paulo’s Movimento Violão series. After earning his master’s degree in 2010 he took first prize at the 21st Souza Lima National Guitar Competition. The following year he made his Carnegie Hall debut, introducing new works by Brazilian composers Raimundo Penaforte and Ricardo Calderoni. That appearance prompted the 2013 album Surfboard: Solo Guitar Works from Brazil on the Pomegranate Music label. In 2015 he issued Kouyoumdjian Plays Bach: New Transcriptions for Guitar, which earned favorable critical notice. He subsequently joined the faculties of the Diller-Quaile School of Music, the Lucy Moses School, and the Newark School of the Arts. Turning to his Armenian roots, he released Gakavig Fantasy: Armenian Music Arranged & Composed for Classical Guitar in 2022. He continues to live in New York, where he remains active as a teacher, performer, and recording artist.