João started playing classical guitar at the age of 10. 5 years later he switched to the electric guitar. Influenced by the musician Mário Delgado he later on began studying Jazz guitar with him in the JB JAZZ music school leading to João’s joining the Superior School of Music of Lisbon, and graduating in Jazz Music.
He has studied jazz guitar with Mário Delgado, Pedro Madaleno, André Fernandes and Bruno Santos as well as combo, ear training, harmony, improvisation and jazz orchestra with Afonso Pais, Nuno Ferreira, Pedro Moreira, Ricardo Pinheiro, Gonçalo Marques, João Moreira, Nelson Cascais, and others. He has participated many workshops and masterclasses with Lee Konitz, Dave Holland, Ohad Talmor, Dan Weiss, Peter Bernstein, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Carlos Bica, and many other admirable musicians.
Along the years he has participated and initiated many musical projects, playing originals but also arrangements to the music of others. Among them; with MADJEZZ (fusion jazz, triphop and electronic music) attending Festival Meo Out Jazz (2014) and Festival Palavras C@ntadas at Teatro da Comuna (2015), where they were the support band of a three day slam poetry festival. They were also invited to represent Portugal in the Festival Jazziberia in Badajoz, Spain (2012).
In 2016, his former harmony and combo teacher Nuno Ferreira asked him to join and record with his new pop/rock group REVERSO, including the performance of original compositions to the poems of well known Portuguese poets like Fernando Pessoa, Miguel Torga, Sophia Mello, Breyner Andresen, Alexandre O’Neill, along side with some original texts from his authorship.
Recently, João has recorded his first LP as a lead musician and composer “ROQUE”, including 10 original themes. The album was first presented in January 2017 and it’s been touring Portugal since then.He has already played at Casa da Música, Centro Cultural de Belém, Casa da Cultura de Setúbal, Café Tati, Cossul, Pois Café, Pensão Amor, Palácio do Egipto, Duetos da Sé, CineIncrível Almadense, among other venues.
On top of his activity as a composer and the leader of his group ROQUE, he also plays and records a lot as a freelance musician playing Jazz, Rock, Pop, MPB, Funk, and also Classical music. In 2017 took part as one of the 18 musicians ensemble that played live on 51st edition of “Festival da Canção da RTP”. This concert was held at the Coliseu de Lisboa and was broadcast live on television to millions of viewers, along side some of the most well known Pop voices of Portugal. He has been teaching guitar since 2003 in a multitude of different schools. Nowadays he is teaching guitar, music theory and jazz combo at the Musicentro, Escola de Jazz Luiz Villas Boas, the Hot Clube de Portugal and Lycée français Charles Lepierre.