About Salomão Soares
Brazilian pianist and composer.
Country dances in inland Paraíba.
Salomão Soares grew up in Cruz do Espírito Santo, in the countryside of Paraíba.
He started out playing at local dances, in a household where Sivuca, Dominguinhos and Luiz Gonzaga were a constant presence — his first schooling, provided by his parents, long before any formal piano lessons. At home, his father played percussion; it was there, by ear, that the rhythmic instinct that defines his piano today took shape.
From the Northeast to jazz.
His training came from listening and practice: at 15, he began studying with Helinho Medeiros in João Pessoa, and playing in dance bands. It was Helinho who introduced him to Hermeto Pascoal — a Northeastern sound Salomão couldn't yet decode and one that, in his words, "changed my life."
Between 2008 and 2011, he worked as a pianist on cruise ships around South America. He moved to São Paulo in 2011 with a clear goal: to study with André Marques, Hermeto Pascoal's pianist, at the Tatuí Conservatory — lessons that lasted about a year and a half. During the same period, he played in São Paulo's nightlife circuit and joined instrumental groups in São Paulo and Tatuí — a decisive foundation for his development as a pianist, and the moment he began to dig deeper into composition.
Jazz broadened his creative horizon — as a tool for dialogue, never as an aesthetic destination. Out of that combination came a language that crosses Brazilian piano with contemporary jazz.
Stages and encounters.
Throughout his career, he has shared the stage with names such as Toninho Horta, João Bosco and Leny Andrade.
He has also performed alongside Hermeto Pascoal, who remains his greatest reference and a constant source of inspiration.
He won the MIMO Instrumental Award and was a finalist at the Montreux Jazz Piano Competition, in Switzerland, both in 2017, and was named New Talent at the 2018 Savassi Festival in Belo Horizonte — the same year he was featured on the Best Brazilian Instrumentalists list by the site Melhores da Música Brasileira. His solo concert at the Igreja do Carmo, in Olinda, held special meaning: it was the first time his parents saw him perform in concert since he had left home. At SESC Jazz, one of Latin America's most prestigious festivals, he performed with his trio and as a guest of Hermeto Pascoal.
He is a member of the Hamilton de Holanda Trio, with whom he won the 2025 Latin Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album, for the album recorded live at Jazz at Lincoln Center, in New York, featuring saxophonist Chris Potter.
At the same venue, he performed as a guest of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. He has also made a special guest appearance with Snarky Puppy in Alberobello, Italy.
A discography in motion.
His discography brings together original and collaborative work such as Alegria de Matuto, Colorido Urbano, Baião de Dois (with Guegué Medeiros), Interior — a solo album toured across Europe — and Espirais (2024), alongside projects with singer Vanessa Moreno such as Chão de Flutuar, Yatra-Tá and Outros Ventos.
His tours have already spanned five continents — from Japan to South Africa, from Europe to the United States and South America.
“Rhythm, to me, is the soul of Brazilian music.”Photo: Julia Rizzo
Tradition in motion.
Salomão's music sets out from Brazilian popular culture — and keeps moving.
The idea running through all of his work — and one the solo album Interior takes to its limit — is to bring to the piano the Northeastern Brazilian music he grew up in. Composing, for him, is "like a photograph of the moment I'm living": faithful to intuition, and free to change as life does.
Alongside performing, he teaches: he runs Escola Salomão Soares ↗, an online school devoted to Brazilian popular piano — rhythm, harmony, improvisation and repertoire (in Portuguese).
What his peers say: