Biography

Brazilian-Italian pianist Junia Canton has established a distinguished career as a performer, researcher, and professor. She holds a Ph.D. in Music from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG, 2024), a Master’s in Musical Performance (UFMG, 2002), and a Specialist degree in Brazilian Music from the State University of Minas Gerais (UEMG, 2001). Her artistic formation includes studies with renowned Brazilian pianists Celina Szrvinsk, Luis Senise, Berenice Menegale, and Eduardo Hazan, as well as Dutch pianist Frédéric Meinders.

Since 1998, Dr. Canton has served as Professor of Piano, Chamber Music, and Brazilian Music at the State University of Minas Gerais (UEMG). A dedicated pedagogue, her students have garnered over 320 prizes in competitions across Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, and the United States. Many of her alumni have performed as soloists with major ensembles—including the Minas Gerais Philharmonic and the São Paulo Prelúdio Orchestra—and now hold prestigious academic and performance positions worldwide.

As a concert pianist, Junia Canton performs regularly as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Brazil, Portugal, Italy, and the United States. She maintains a frequent and versatile collaborative schedule, performing with string quartets, in duos with strings, and in piano duos. Notable performances include first piano in Stravinsky’s Les Noces and Orff’s Catulli Carmina at the Palácio das Artes in Belo Horizonte, as well as concertos by Bach (Festival de Maio, Belo Horizonte), Mozart (UFMG Conservatory), and Saint-Saëns (Unimed-BH Cultural Center, Belo Horizonte).

Dr. Canton is a leading researcher and interpreter of Brazilian music, recognized particularly for her expertise in the works of post-modernist composer J. A. R. de Almeida Prado. Her doctoral research offered a truly transdisciplinary perspective by integrating fields such as Neuroscience, Movement Biomechanics, Musicology, and Performance, focused on the piano pedagogy of Almeida Prado. The thesis is titled "As Kinderszenen de Almeida Prado: uma contribuição transdisciplinar à pedagogia pianística" (Almeida Prado's Kinderszenen: A Transdisciplinary Contribution to Piano Pedagogy).
The full thesis is available at: https://repositorio.ufmg.br.

A pivotal moment in her artistic development occurred during her Master’s studies, when she had the distinct privilege of working directly with the composer himself. Under Almeida Prado’s personal mentorship, she studied his 16 Poesilúdios, gaining authoritative and firsthand insight into his interpretative intentions.

Her engagement with Brazilian repertoire extends to media productions. She recorded for the project "Memória da Música Brasileira," produced by Três Marias Produções Artísticas; these performances are available at: https://youtu.be/1Q2cBXF4jUY, https://youtu.be/2v47e9LfSVc, and https://youtu.be/KFqyJtQ--uw.

A recipient of numerous accolades, she was awarded the Valerie Canady Foundation Scholarship (West Virginia University, USA, 2017) and, more recently, the 2025 PNAB Research Grant for Brazilian Music. Her audiovisual work has been recognized with the Funarte "RespirArte" prize (https://youtu.be/GGRaqDFk8Bs) and the "Cena Plural" award by the City of Belo Horizonte, as well as First Place in the "Arte em Casa" program of the Legislative Assembly of Minas Gerais.

In the realm of arts administration, she co-founded the "International Piano Week at Cushing Academy" (Massachusetts, USA) with pianist Monica Tessitore, a festival returning for its fourth edition in 2026. She also created and coordinates the university extension project "O Potencial Musicalizador de Obras Brasileiras para Piano, Inspiradas no Universo Infantil e com Elementos de Brasilidade", developed at UEMG (playlist available at: https://youtu.be/sajjdEF9OYY).