Biography

Brazilian-born musician Joseph Augusto Guimaraes immigrated to the United States at age nine and began his musical studies at age eleven. He joined the United States Navy Band, the premier wind ensemble of the U.S. Navy, in 2020 and became principal tubist with the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra in 2021. Guimaraes has collaborated as a guest tubist with major ensembles, including the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He served as the principal tuba fellow for the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra in Sapporo, Japan, and the Chautauqua Music Festival in Chautauqua, New York. Additionally, Guimaraes dedicated more than a decade to the marching arts, and he competed as a member of the Spirit from Jacksonville State University Drum and Bugle Corps and marched with and taught the Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps.

Guimaraes earned the silver medal at the Leonard Falcone International Euphonium and Tuba Festival artist division competition and the first prize award during the 2016 NERTEC solo competition. He has performed as a soloist with the Florida Atlantic University Band and Orchestra, the Blue Lake Festival Band, and the James Madison University Brass Band. He has also appeared as a guest artist with the Lynn University Wind Ensemble and presented solo recitals at the U.S. Army Band, Tuba and Euphonium Workshop, regional conferences, and universities.

Guimaraes served a visiting appointment at Appalachian State University’s Hayes School of Music, and he continues to present masterclasses, lectures, and workshops worldwide. He has adjudicated the artist division of the Leonard Falcone International Competition, the Sphinx Orchestral Partners Audition (SOPA) in Detroit, Michigan, the Sphinx/U.S. Navy Band inaugural partnership SOPA mock audition in Washington, D.C., and for the USBANDS marching band circuit.

The recipient of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, Guimaraes was also awarded the Sphinx Organization’s MPower Artist Grant for his efforts to eliminate systemic inequities. He used the grant to develop an educational video series on tuba pedagogy in Portuguese to address and lessen educational disparities in Latin American countries. Guimaraes’s dedication to the arts has garnered national attention from publications including The New York Times, The New American, Yale University News, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Guimaraes holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Georgia, the Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music, and the Bachelor of Music degree from the Lynn University Conservatory of Music. His primary teachers include David Zerkel, Carol Jantsch, Kenneth Amis, and Jay Bertolet.

Joseph Guimaraes is a Yamaha and Denis Wick Performing Artist.

Last updated in September of 2023