At the age of eight, Marcos Vinicius was dazzled by the sight of a guitar “hanging” on the string of a bazaar selling everything, in Congonhas (Brazil) – his hometown. And it left an indelible mark on his destiny as an artist.
A precocious talent from the Minas Gerais conservatory, he perfected his skills at the Civica di Milano “Claudio Abbado” with Aldo Minella, learning with Leo Soares and Henrique Pinto and enriching his artistic baggage with Ruggero Chiesa.
His beginnings as a young winner of the “Villa Lobos” international competition and, later, as a student of Oscar Ghiglia at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, gave him an early start to his international career, performing in many countries on all continents and, of course, his native Brazil, where he left an important artistic mark, founding and directing the first guitar magazine “Violão America”, as well as the group “Belo Horizonte Guitar Ensemble”.
For over a decade, his concert tours and masterclasses in China have been a must, where he is artistic advisor to the Xi’An Academy. He has been one of the few artists to perform in venues such as the National Library, Peking University and Ningbo’s Music Concert Hall. A few years ago, the Carrara publishing house dedicated to him the “Marcos Vinicius Guitar Collection” series, which includes transcriptions (Telemann, Rossini, Bach, Georg Haendel, Weiss, Sanz, Paganini, Penambuco) as well as numerous original compositions and treatises on guitar technique.
He also composes for wind and string instruments, as well as for chamber music groups – duos and quartets. In 1992, thanks to a memorable performance of the Concierto de Aranjuez, he was one of the few guitarists to be personally invited by composer Joaquin Rodrigo to his summer residence.
He is president of the Academy of Classical Guitar and was artistic director of the pre-academic and advanced courses at the International Academy of Music, Arts and Cinema in Rome.