The duo formed by flautist Michel de Paula and guitarist Luiz Mantovani was created in the early nineties, when both musicians were undergraduate students in Brazil. It quickly established itself as one of the prominent flute and guitar duos performing regularly in that country. Their selection as prizewinners of the Santa Marcelina National Chamber Music Competition in São Paulo led to a recording of the piece Vitrais, by Brazilian composer Raul do Valle, specially written for the duo. Graduate studies in different parts of the globe made collaboration impossible until 2011 when they successfully resumed their partnership with a Southern-Brazil tour that included the national premiere of Ferdinand Rebay’s Sonata in D Major. In 2012, the Duo de Paula/Mantovani was selected to receive the Funarte Prize for Educational Concerts with the project Songs and Dances, having performed a series of concerts in public schools of Santa Catarina State, Brazil. In addition to exploring well-known works for flute and guitar, the duo aimed to enlarge the repertoire by commissioning new works from contemporary composers. Their latest collaboration with Brazilian composer Liduíno Pitombeira resulted in the piece Brazilian Landscapes No.12, which was premiered in 2012 at Weill Recital Hall/Carnegie Hall in New York.
