RICARDO BONA

RICARDO BONA

Bio//

Ricardo Bona is an accordionist, music teacher, composer, and a graduate of the University of Sao Paulo (USP). Ricardo completed his thesis at USP under the guidance of Ivan Vilela on the subject 'The Brazilian oral teaching tradition of accordion.' He also studied at the AWM Conservatory with Alvaro Couto, and the Sao Paulo State Music School with Guilherme Ribeiro and Josue dos Santos.

Ricardo has taken classes with renowned artists such as Oswaldinho do Acordeon, Toninho Ferragutti and Chico Chagas.

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What few people know about Ricardo is that his musical initiation was through a type of Brazilian country music (known as musica caipira) and the viola was his first instrument. However, fifteen years ago some friends from Ricardo's neighborhood decided to start a forro band, yet no one could play the accordion. It was here that Ricardo met his ultimate challenge! Using an accordion he borrowed from a nun, Ricardo began his journey on what would become the passion of his life.

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After a few years as an electronic technician at a local company, Ricardo gave this up to devote his life solely to music. He has studied about and played a wide range of musical styles, including choro, forro, musica caipira, sertanejo, classical music, jazz, tango and regional folk music.

He has also played with many recognized artists in Brazil, among the most famous incluidng: Rastape Band, Peixe Eletrico, Praieira, Kanavia, Celia and Celma, Tiao Carvalho, and Fabio de Mello.

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Ricardo arrived in Australia in August 2017 and has been building his career playing choro, jazz, tango and Brazilian popular music. He attended the Woodford festival in 2017, as well as other festivals in Sydney and Canberra. Recently he was invited to represent Brazilian music at the international accordion festival in Sydney.

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