Biography

A native of Recife, Brazil, Joseph Guimaraes immigrated to the United States with his family in 1998. He was introduced to classical music by his grandmother at the age of four and began studying the tuba at age fourteen.

Guimaraes is a Doctoral of Musical Arts degree candidate at the University of Georgia’s Hugh Hodgson School of Music. While in Georgia, he served as the tubist for the Bulldog Brass Society Quintet under the coaching of Philip Smith. Joseph earned his Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music and his Bachelor of Music degree in tuba performance from the Lynn University Conservatory of Music. 

His teachers include David Zerkel, Carol Jantsch, Kenneth Amis, and Jay Bertolet. 

Guimaraes joined the United States Navy Concert and Ceremonial Band in Washington, D.C., in October of 2020, and the faculty at Appalachian State University’s Hayes School of Music as Adjunct Professor of Tuba and Euphonium in the Fall of 2021, where he teaches alongside Professor Bethany Wiese.

In 2017, he received the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans in recognition for his philanthropic efforts through his foundation, the Mouthpieces for All Initiative, garnering national praise and attention from The New York Times, The New American, The Paul and Daisy Soros Foundation, Yale University News, Yale University School of Music, Lynn University’s iPulse, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. 

He has held principal tubist positions at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, and the Chautauqua Music Festival in Chautauqua, N.Y. While in Japan, Joseph worked and performed alongside musicians from the Berliner Philharmoniker, Chicago Symphony, The Metropolitan Opera, Pittsburgh Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, and the Wiener Philharmoniker, among others.

Guimaraes has been a soloist with the Blue Lake Festival Band, the Lynn University Wind Ensemble, the Florida Atlantic University Symphony Orchestra, and Florida Atlantic University’s Wind Ensemble. Joseph has performed with ensembles such as the Yale Philharmonia, the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra, Miami Symphony, Boca Raton Symphonia, the Lynn University Philharmonia, Orchestra Miami, the Chautauqua Music Festival Orchestra, the University of Georgia Brass Band, and the Orchid City Brass Band. In addition, he has performed under the baton of distinguished conductors Valery Gergiev, Jun Märkl, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, Marin Alsop, Peter Oundjian, Giancarlo Guerrero, Guillermo Figueroa, Timothy Muffitt, Jerry Junkin, Ray Cramer, and H. Robert Reynolds.

In 2019, Joseph earned the silver medal in the artist division solo competition at the Leonard Falcone International Euphonium & Tuba Festival and the gold prize at the 2017 NERTEC Solo Artist Competition Ithaca, NY.

Complimentary to his engagements in classical music, Joseph maintains an ongoing presence as an educator and adjudicator in the marching arts. Since 2017, he has judged for the USBANDS competition circuit, adjudicating at regional and national events. Additionally, Joseph served as a member of The Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps’ brass educational team during their 2012 and 2018 seasons. As a member, he marched in the contra-bass sections of The Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps and the Spirit from Jacksonville State University Drum and Bugle Corps.

In 2015 Guimaraes launched his company The Valve Beanie and founded the Mouthpieces for All Initiative (MPFAI). MPFAI is a project whose mission is to promote and encourage music education to youth while focusing on specific training aspects that can inform life choices outside of the arts. Since its founding, MPFAI has donated over twenty thousand dollars of equipment to deserving students both in the United States and abroad.

He is an avid conductor who has worked with groups such as the Lynn University Philharmonia, The University of Georgia’s Low Brass Ensemble, the All-City Honors Ensemble in New Haven, CT, and the Florida Mandolin Orchestra while serving as its director. Joseph is incredibly proud of his collaboration with renowned Igor Stravinsky scholar David Noon during the 2015 New Music Festival and the 2016 Stravinsky Symposium hosted by Lynn University’s Conservatory of Music.

Joseph resides in Falls Church, VA, with his wife, Nicole Guimaraes, and spoiled dog, Comet.