About João Barradas

João Barradas is one of the most recognized young accordionists in Europe. At age 22 is the winner, in various categories, of the most important competitions in the world like Trophée Mondiale Accordeon, Coupe Mondiale Accordeon, "Citta Di Castelfidardo" Competition and many other prizes.

He is one of the most distinguished voices on the accordion jazz scene nowadays working as a leader or sideman with names like: João Paulo Esteves da Silva, Sérgio Carolino, Nelson Cascais, Bruno Pedroso, Carlos Barretto, Paula Oliveira, João Moreira, Afonso Pais, Pedro Madaleno, Alexandre Frazão, Hugo Trindade, Marcelo Araújo, Ricardo Toscano, Bernardo Moreira, Gileno Santana, Mané Fernandes, Joel Silva, Demian Cabaud, Rita Maria, Luís Candeias, Eduardo Cardinho, Marcos Cavaleiro, Luiz Avellar, Yoav Eshed, Yuri Daniel, Jacob Sacks or Sarpay Özçağatay.

João was born in Portugal, Porto Alto, Samora Correia in February, 1992 and began to learn the accordion at the age of 6, at Music School of Samora Correia, at the age of 7 entered IMVM in Lisbon and the age of 9 entered the 2d grade of The Official Accordion Course, having as a teacher Aníbal Freire, 2 times World Champion of Accordion. João finished The Official Accordion Course with 20 average (Max classification). Since 2010. the preparation for Internacional and Nacional Competitions is done, in France, with the prestigious professor Frédéric Deschamps.

Growing up as a child prodigy, his perfect pitch, sight-reading and excellent technique gave him the opportunity to act in various concert halls among the most famous accordionists in the history, like: Friederich Lips, Viatcheslav Semyonov, Yuri Shishkin, Richard Galliano, Alexander Dmitriev, Grayson Masefield, Aydar Gaynullin, Jérôme Richard, Eugénia Lima, Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi, Aude Giuliano, Vitali Dmitriev or Eric Bouvelle.

In spite of being young, he has taken part at many concerts: at The Maria Matos Theatre, The São Luis Theatre, The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, The Camões Theatre, European Concert at Jerónimos Abbey, Torre de Belém Concert, European Concert at The Belém Cultural Centre, the Concert at Noble Hall of National Conservatoire, Casa da Música (Porto), The House of Opera in Samara (Russia), Noble Hall of The Financial Ministry and many others.

João worked his performance and technique with the most well-known international artists, like: Greg Osby, Mark Turner, Avishai Cohen, Jim Black, Viatcheslav Semyonov, Eric Harland, Nir Felder, Frédéric Deschamps, Carlos Bica, Miguel Zenón, Robin Eubanks, Matt Penman,Paulo Jorge Ferreira, Stefan Harris, Pedro Madaleno, Frank Mobus or Friederich Lips.

As a contemporary accordionist, João Barradas has collaborated with composers Pedro Carneiro, Nuno da Rocha, Dimitris Andrikopoulos, Vitorino Matono, Jarmo Sermila, Edgar Saramago, Tuomas Turriago, Joaquim Raposo, Etiene Crausaz, Filipe Melo, André Santos, Jon Hansen and Eugénio Amorim.