Album Notes

A versatile artist of musical depth and sophistication, Clarice Assad is making her mark in the music world in not one, but three areas: as a pianist, as a vocalist and as a composer.
A seasoned performer, Clarice Assad is also an accomplished composer whose work is sought out by musicians forits fluid blending of classical and jazz elements, subtly infused with the Latin rhythms of her native Brazil.

As a pianist, Clarice Assad has received acclaim for her performances of both
original compositions and her own arrangements of popular Brazilian songs and jazz standards. She has appeared throughout Brazil, including performances at Sao Paulo's Espaco Promom and Sesc, Rio de Janeiro's Teatro Vanucci, Mistura Fina, Teatro Ipanema and Pinakotheke Cultural, and at Sao Mateus' Cine Teatro, among others. Relatively new to audiences in the United States, Ms. Assad has performed at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, Centennial hall in Tucson, Modlin Ctr. for the Arts in Richmond, among others.

As a vocalist, Ms. Assad sings in Portuguese, French and English. She has
appeared on Brazilian radio numerous times, including singing in an education radio campaign for children sponsored by the Brazilian oil company Petrobas. Appearances on Radi MEC, the Brazilian classical radio station, include a live performance for the program "Moment of Jazz," with electric guitarist Bernardo Bosisio, a live performance at Café do Teatro with the singer/songwriter Luli, and with Joaquim de Paula and Rodrigo Lima in a program of Brazilian folk music for non-folk instruments and voice.

A composer whose works have been published in France and performed in Italy, Brazil, and the United States, Ms. Assad's works often have a thematic core, and explore the physical and psychological elements of the chosen story, object or concept. Clarice Assad's commissions include Symmetries, a set of works for saxophone and piano premiered by Chicago Symphony Orchestra organist David Schrader and saxophonist Taku Akyiama in 2002; Valsas do Rio, a piece for two guitars for the famed Godwin-Thomson guitar duo, later recorded in 2003 for Vgo Recordings, Inc. by guitarists Boris Gaquere and Odair Assad (publisher: Editions Lemoine, France), and Flutuante for guitar and clarinet, commissioned
and recorded in 1999 by guitarist Sergio Assad and clarinetist Gabriele
Mirabassi on the Edizioni Discografiche label. Ms. Assad has also written original compositions in collaboration with Sergio Assad for Lou Fancher's ballet, "Step to Grace," which premiered in 2002 at the Minneapolis Theater Works.
A native of Rio de Janeiro, Clarice Assad was born into one of Brazil's
musical families (she is the daughter of Sergio Assad, one of today's preeminent guitarists) and has performed professionally since the age of seven. Formal piano studies began with Sheila Zagury in Brazil; she then studied with Natalie Fortin and had additional instruction in Jazz and Brazilian piano under the tutelage of Leandro Braga. Clarice continued her classical piano studies in the United States with Ed Bedner (of Boston's Berklee School of Music) and then Bruce Berr at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Composition studies have been with Ilya Levinson, Stacy Garrop, David Rakowski, Michael Daugherty and Claude Baker. Ms. Assad holds a Bachelor of Music from the Chicago College of the Performing Arts, Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois, and a Masters of Music in Composition from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.