João Luiz and Douglas Lora met in São Paulo as teenage guitar students and their successful partnership of over twenty years results from their innovative programming— which features a seamless blend of traditional and Brazilian works—leading to a busy global touring schedule and a growing catalogue of critically acclaimed recordings garnering two Latin Grammy nominations. Douglas Lora earned his Master’s degree from the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music as a student of Dr. Rene Gonzalez. Douglas is currently pursuing a doctoral degree at University of Southern California under Scott Tennant. Lora develops studies in Brazilian Music at Centrum Workshops in Washington State. João Luiz received his Master’s degree from Mannes College the New School for Music under Michael Newman, and as a recipient of the Augustine Foundation scholarship he earned a doctoral degree from Manhattan School of Music where he studied with David Leisner. João is the director of chamber music at CUNY-Hunter College, and the head of guitar studies at Stony Brook University. The 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 combines a broad repertoire of classical guitar duos (Bach, Sor, Scarlatti, Rameau, Debussy, etc.) with such traditional Brazilian dance forms as choro, samba, maxixe, and baião.