Brasil Guitar Duo, a 2006 winner of the Concert Artists Guild International Competition, and hailed by Classical Guitar magazine for its "maturity of musicianship and technical virtuosity," is equally at home on a classical or a world-music series. Its innovative programming features a seamless blend of traditional and Brazilian works, resulting in a full global touring schedule and a growing catalogue of critically acclaimed recordings. The Duo has appeared internationally on major concert series and at festivals in Germany, England, South Korea, Colombia, Brazil, Austria, Panama, Poland, and Bermuda. U.S. engagements have included recitals in such major cities as New York, Santa Barbara, Miami, Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, St. Louis and Tucson, as well as in Chautauqua and Cooperstown, N.Y.; Stowe, Vt.; and Lancaster, Ohio. Eager advocates for both traditional and new concerti for two guitars and orchestra, the Duo premiered a work by Brazilian composer Paulo Bellinati with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Giancarlo Guerrero, in June 2012, and will give the first U.S. performances in the 2012-13 season. Recent concerto engagements include concerts with the Dallas and Houston symphony orchestras, Ohio's Dayton Philharmonic and Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, and the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas in New York City. The Duo's first CD, in 2007, was Bom Partido, a CAG Records release featuring all Brazilian repertoire that prompted Steve Marsh to write in Classical Guitar, "The maturity of musicianship and technical virtuosity displayed on this debut recording by João Luiz and Douglas Lora is simply outstanding...The original compositions by Douglas Lora comfortably stand alongside the ‘big names' on the rest of the programme and are well crafted and very appealing new works." Two critically acclaimed CDs on the Naxos CDs, released in 2008 and 2009, contain the complete works for two guitars by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. The Duo has also won praise for its latest CD, released on the Avie label: a collaboration with flutist Marina Piccinini that features all of J.S. Bach's sonatas for flute and harpsichord, as arranged by the Duo for flute and two guitars. Brasil Guitar Duo actively strives to expand the repertoire for two guitars, with Lora contributing works of his own and Luiz arranging both classical and Brazilian music. Appearing frequently in diverse non-traditional spaces, the Duo brings a broad repertoire of classical guitar duos (Bach, Sor, Scarlatti, Debussy, etc.) combined with the traditional music of its native land (choro, samba, maxixe, and baião). Duo members João Luiz and Douglas Lora met in São Paulo as teenage guitar students and have been performing together for more than fifteen years. The Duo's primary studies were with Henrique Pinto along with Fabio Zanon, Paulo Martelli, Sergio Abreu, and Alice Artz. Douglas Lora earned his Master's degree at the University of Miami as a student of Dr. Rene Gonzalez. João Luiz received his Master’s degree from Mannes College the New School for Music under Michael Newman, and is pursuing a Doctoral degree at Manhattan School of Music, studying with David Leisner. He teaches guitar at New Jersey City University.