I began studying french horn at the age of 11 in my hown town Sarzedo, near Belo Horizonte, state capital of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
My first teacher was the conductor and trumpetist Joanir de Oliveira, leader of the municipal Music Project. My undergraduate degree was at UEMG, the Minas Gerais State University. I played in Germany with the Orquestra Minas Barroca.
After graduation I was invited by my teacher SĂ©rgio Gomes to join the Minas Gerais Symphony Orchestra as a guest musician. I became a horn teacher at the Sarzedo Music Project, where I studied as a child. I was also selected for the Orchestra of the Americas Mexican tour and for a chamber music festival in Chile.
At the Academy of the Minas Gerais Philarmonic Orchestra I studied under Alma Maria Liebrecht and she prepared me for my entry into the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, as a graduate student.