Rafael Lopes dos Santos

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Biography
Rafael Lopes dos Santos is a doctoral student in musicology at the University of Évora (Portugal), has a master´s degree in music from the Federal University of Paraná and a bachelor´s degree in guitar from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, both in Brazil. As a researcher, he investigates Brazilian music from the perspective of the creative process, intertextualities and soundscapes, with a focus on the contexts of the 20th and 21st centuries. He is currently working on his thesis entitled “Representations of soundscapes in the original discography of Egberto Gismonti, from 1969 to 1989”. He studied Integrated Media in Education at the Federal Institute of Santa Catarina, in Brazil, where he investigated microlearning and its potential for music education. Between 2016 and 2021 he was part of the “Context, Structuring, Influence and Musical Style between 1850-1950” research group, coordinated by Prof. Dr. Norton Eloy Dudeque (UFPR). In 2012, he studied performance at Berklee College of Music at Umbria Jazz 12′ (Italy), where he received a scholarship, and during 2013/14 he took Jazz Performance classes at the University of Aveiro. His formation included the collaboration of musicians such as Hermeto Pascoal, Mário Laginha, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Daniel Wolff, Fábio Zanon and George Russell Jr.. The instrumentalist and composer has released six albums, and has also performed concerts in Brazil, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Spain and Uruguay, and was part of groups such as Camerata Violões de Porto. In his artistic work, Rafael uses improvisation as an important part of his composition and performance processes, and seeks to explore the relationships between music and spaces, such as cities and natural environments.