Bianca d’Avila do Prado

Brazilian cellist and pedagogue Bianca d’Avila do Prado is a member of the cello faculty at the Music Institute of Chicago and an online instructor for the University of Idaho Preparatory Division. As part of her work at the MIC, she recently started the Third Coast Cello Suzuki Outreach Program for the Hispanic community in Evanston, IL.

Ms. Prado holds a Master of Music in Cello Performance and String Pedagogy degree from Illinois State University. At ISU, she completed her cello studies under Adriana Ransom and Cora Swenson-Lee, receiving a scholarship to work as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the ISU String Project, and was the ISU Symphony Orchestra Principal Cello.

Her Suzuki Teaching Training Courses include Suzuki Philosophy with Dr. Shinobu Saito and Eduardo Ludueña and Every Child Can with Edward Kreitman. She also took Suzuki Cello Units 1, 2, 3 and 4 with Dr. David Evenchick, Unit 5 with Dr. Tanya Carey and Revisiting Unit 1 with Sally Gross. She was part of the “Clases Grupales” training with Andrea Spinzo, “Setting Up Families for Success” seminar with Christine Goodner, and recently attended the Group Class Techniques course with Carey Beth Hockett at the Chicago Suzuki Institute.

Bianca has been invited to teach at Festivals in Brazil and in the US, including the Illinois State University String Project Summer Camp in 2019 and 2020 and the First Sandpoint Summer Strings Festival in 2021. She was also a guest teacher and lecturer at the XXI, XXII and XXIV Encontro de Violoncelos, in Brazil. As an adjudicator, she was part of the committee for the 3rd Concurso Jovem Violoncelista Jean-Jacques Pagnot (BR) and the First Sandpoint Summer Strings Festival Adjudication (US).

She got her Bachelor’s in Cello Performance in 2007, studying with Angela Ferrari at Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, in Brazil. Bianca Prado’s works include six CD recordings with Camerata Ontoarte, two of them featuring the soprano Carla Maffioletti. With this group, she had the opportunity to perform concerts throughout several of Brazil’s capital cities and in Lodi, Italy and Saint Petersburg, Russia. She was also part of a project called A Lua de Santiago, recording a repertoire composed by Fernando Avila for accordion and string quintet. Bianca was part of the Theatro São Pedro Chamber Orchestra from 2011 to 2018 and worked with famous musicians such as pianist Nelson Freire and cellists Antonio Meneses and Norbert Anger, among others. She was also part of the Quatricelli Cello Quartet, winner of the Premio Funarte de Concertos Didaticos 2014. She taught cello at Escola Tio Zequinha, a Suzuki School in Porto Alegre from 2010 to 2018.

In the US, she started and headed the cello program at the Suzuki String Academy, in Sandpoint, ID. At SSA she taught private cello lessons, Cello Choir, Mommy and Me Cello Class, Beginner and Intermediate Chamber Ensembles, and idealized and conducted the Vivace Adult Cello Ensemble. She also taught Junior Orchestra at the Sandpoint Christian School and was the North Idaho Philharmonia principal cello.

Bianca actively works on making Brazilian music for strings more accessible and performed in the US. Her article "Teaching Diversity: Four Brazilian Pieces for String Orchestra" was published in the Scroll magazine from the Illinois String Teachers Association in 2021. Another article, titled "Viajando Pelo Brasil I, Suite for Strings: A Fun way to Explore the Richness of Brazilian Culture and Music", was published in the American String Teacher magazine in May 2022.

Her article "Setting Habits for Success: How Being a Suzuki Student Can Transform Your Child’s Brain" was published in the American Suzuki Journal in November 2021.

Bianca’s composition “Brazilian Habanera” for strings was one of the five pieces selected to be part of the Beginning Level Volumes of the Celebrating Diversity in String Music Anthology, promoted by the University of Tennessee-Knoxville with a prize awarded by the Sphinx Venture Fund. This collection of pieces will be published and distributed to schools in the United States.