Renowned Brazilian Cellist to perform at Westport Library

Meadowmount Concert will feature the Gurrena Fellowship Recipient, Luiz Fernando Venturelli, Brazilian Cellist, at the Westport Library on Wednesday, January 17, from 6 - 7:30 p.m.. 

About the artist

Luiz Fernando Venturelli is a Brazilian cellist who is rapidly gaining recognition as one of the most promising young musicians of the country. He received his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University in 2021 and his master’s in 2023, studying under Professor Hans Jørgen Jensen. Born and raised in a musical family, Luiz began his musical studies at the age of 3 and began playing the cello when he was 8. He studied at the Instituto Baccarelli, a non-profit organization that offers free music lessons to children, from the time he was 8 until he came to the United States when he was 17.

Luiz is a member of the Galvin Cello Quartet, formed in 2021 at the Bienen School of Music, which won the silver medal at the 2021 Fischoff Competition and the 2022 Victor Elmaleh Competition. Luiz has been a prize winner in multiple competitions including the Paulo Bosisio competition, the Samuel and Eleanor Thaviu String competition, the concerto competitions of the Orquestra Filarmônica de Goiás, OSESP, Northwestern University, as well as the 24th annual Sphinx competition. He was recently awarded the second annual $50,000 Gurrena Fellowship from the Meadowmount School of Music, and was the winner of the 2023 Astral Artists national competition.

As a soloist, Luiz has performed with a number of orchestras, including the Peninsula Music Festival, the Symphony Orchestra of São Paulo, the Bahia Symphony, the Goiás Philharmonic, the Espírito Santo Symphony, the Campinas Symphony, the Piracicaba Symphony, the Heliópolis Symphony, the São Paulo University Symphony and the SESI Chamber Orchestra.

Luiz is also a huge enthusiast of other kinds of music, having led a rock band and played and recorded with multiple artists in Brazil.