Nicolas Silva, Guitar

Nícolas Porto Silva is a Brazilian classical guitarist based in New York (USA), active as a soloist, chamber musician, producer, and teacher. He is currently pursuing a DMA degree at Stony Brook University, where he also earned his Master’s degree.

Nícolas began his studies at the age of seven with his father, Marcos Silva. As a gifted young guitarist, he gained national attention through TV appearances and concert performances across Brazil during his childhood. His orchestral debut came in 2019 with a nationally televised performance of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Concerto No. 1 for Guitar and Orchestra. He earned his bachelor’s degree with honors from the Federal University of Goiás, studying with Eduardo Meirinhos, and received further mentorship from Fabio Zanon in São Paulo between 2015 and 2021. In 2025, he made his debut at Carnegie Hall in New York as part of the official ceremony awarding the Cervantes Medal to composer Leo Brouwer.

A passionate advocate for collaborative music-making, Nícolas is co-founder and current director of the Brazilian Classical Guitar Community (BCGC), a platform devoted to performing complete cycles of works by both living and historical composers through collective online concerts. He is also the artistic director of Sertão, alongside Octávio Deluchi, a project that reimagines and celebrates Brazil’s cultural and musical heritage, through events, sheet music publications, among other activities. Nícolas is one of the featured artists on the Guitar by Masters (USA) roster, a platform dedicated to new editions and mentorship. As a performer, he has premiered national and world works, some of them dedicated to him, actively contributing to the expansion of the guitar’s contemporary repertoire, where he has been responsible for staging national and international premieres in Brazil and the US by composers such as Sergio Assad, Sofia Gubaidulina, and João Luiz.

Since 2024, he has performed as part of a guitar quartet with Eduardo Gutterres, Octávio Deluchi, and João Luiz, focusing on original repertoire and new arrangements for the ensemble. In parallel with his solo career, Nícolas is deeply committed to music education, with experience in both individual and group instruction, and has led projects such as Jacarandá in Brazil, which is active in different cities across the country. Nícolas Porto Silva is an Augustine Artist using Regal/Blue strings.