Diogo Maia

Multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and composer Diogo Maia moves seamlessly between classical performance, Brazilian Popular Music, and experimental creation.

Based in São Paulo, Brazil, he is clarinetist and bass clarinetist with the Orquestra Sinfônica Municipal de São Paulo (OSM), while performing with some of Brazil’s most innovative ensembles. As a scholar and educator, Diogo holds a Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate in Musical Creation from the University of São Paulo (ECA–USP). His doctoral research, Clarineta partida, sonoridade expandida [Broken Clarinet, Extended Sonority], explores arrangement, composition, and extended techniques for clarinet through creative and pedagogical perspectives.

He has performed throughout Brazil and internationally — in cities such as Bern, Frankfurt, Zurich, Paris, and Moscow. He embodies a rare artistic duality: a clarinetist grounded in classical mastery and academic depth, yet fully immersed in the rhythmic, improvisatory spirit of Brazilian music.

Since 2011, with the Orquestra Sinfônica Municipal de São Paulo, he has played countless operas, ballets, and symphonic concerts. For over a decade, he has been a member of Sujeito a Guincho, recording A Democracia das Madeiras (Selo Sesc), collaborating with Mônica Salmaso and André Mehmari, and performing at major venues such as the Rachmaninov Hall of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. With duo Clownrinetas merges sound, humor, and theatricality to reinvent the concert experience. His collaborations in Brazilian Popular Music include work with Hermeto Pascoal, Leila Pinheiro, and Lívia Nestrovski.

His versatility extends to film, theatre, and television — featuring in major Brazilian productions such as Vale Tudo, Avenida Brasil, Cordel Encantado, and the acclaimed animation Graffiti Dança. He teaches clarinet at the Faculdade Mozarteum de São Paulo (FAMOSP), has been guest professor at leading Brazilian festivals — CIVEBRA, Festival Música nas Montanhas, FIMUCA and Festival de Música de Prados — and serves on the editorial board of Revista Clarineta. 
                            
Diogo Maia plays Selmer Privilége Bass Clarinet and Selmer Signature Bb and A Clarinets.

Photo: Gustavo Moita