Born in 1983 in Rio de Janeiro, recorder player Inês d'Avena (Inês de Avena Braga) specializes in the research and performance of Neapolitan Baroque Music. She has also been passionately working on the revival of forgotten Italian Baroque recorders, commissioning copies and premiering the instruments in concerts and recordings. Inês is praised for her refinement, virtuosism and unique timbre, and is known for blending these qualities as a performer with her engaging work as a researcher and teacher.
Inês is the artistic director of La Cicala and co-founder of New Collegium, AvenaRibeiro and Schifanoia. She performs regularly as a soloist and in chamber and orchestral formations throughout Europe, Asia and her native Brazil, with ensembles such as the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra under the direction of Ton Koopman. She has won international prizes in Early Music at the International Competition Prince Francesco Maria Ruspoli (2010), Premio Bonporti (2011) and Van Wassenaer Competition (2016), both as a soloist and with her ensembles. Inês has recorded for Passacaille, Challenge Classics, ORF Edition Alte Musik, Channel Classics, Ramée/Outhere and Sony Classical, as well as independent releases and numerous radio broadcasts, and her playing has been highly praised by the international specialist press.
Inês holds a PhD in Music from Leiden University and Bachelor's, Master's and teaching diplomas from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague (where she studied recorder with Reine-Marie Verhagen and Sébastien Marq, and followed recorder consort and theory lessons with Peter Van Heyghen). She has had scholarly articles, essays and reviews published at the prestigious Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society, Recercare, Early Music America Magazine, Music+Practice and Blokfluitist. She was a resident academic researcher at the Cini Foundation/Istituto Italiano Antonio Vivaldi (thanks to a 'Vilma & Olivo Andreazza' scholarship) and enjoyed an artistic residency at the Emily Harvey Foundation, both in Venice. Since 2012, Inês is a Guest Teacher and Research Supervisor for the Master Program of the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, where she is also currently ad interim Educational Coordinator of the Early Music Department.