About
Musician and composer Diogo Carvalho is a first-class percussionist, drummer and educator, born and raised in Portugal that owns a musical maturity and a superb sensibility to serve the music, adapting to each artist, making him one of the most versatile and creative percussionists of nowadays.
As a multi-instrumentalist and multi-faceted musician, Diogo had the opportunity to play and share the stage with many artists that brought a great experience and learning beyond the musical practice, from Grammy award winners to ballet companies from Kenya, he played at some of the most emblematic venues, and music festivals around the world, in more than twelve of the European Union countries, Brazil, South Korea, Canada, USA and India.
Nowadays he works with bands like Another Taste, Wojtek Justyna TreeOh! NYVE and MADÊ recording and touring frequently, besides being one of the percussion soloists from the Broadway’s Award-Winning Best Musical, “The Lion King” from Disney in Europe, in which he already played the show in Paris and The Netherlands.
After studying with high-regarded teachers at some of the top music universities in the world, early life demonstrated him, that music was part of the personal and professional way to be, and even during his education he was invited to perform with DrummingGP (the most renowned percussion group in Portugal) only with 16 years old, so before his 20th anniversary and before deciding to expand his residence to the North of Europe, he was already playing with many of the main Portuguese Orchestras and working in the most relevant musical theater company in Portugal (Filipe Lá Feria).
The resilience on keep learning took him to an international level and already based in the Netherlands, Diogo worked as the percussionist in the support bands of the North Sea Jazz Club during the “North Sea Jazz Festival 2015” and in the same year he was invited to compose the soundtrack of “BOMA”, production of the International Dance Theater. Passed one year, he received the invitation to teach World Music at the International Percussion Festival (Groove Alentejo) alongside world renowned percussionists, such as Casey Gangelosi, Jasmin Kolberg, Anders Astrand and She-E Wu.
Having recorded many albums in the last years, he had the privilege to record the last two Records of the “The Jamal Thomas Band”, working with the legendary drummer Jamal Thomas (Maceo Parker, SoS Band) where Diogo featured next to Chuck Leavell from The Rolling Stones in the album “Funk Don’t Move” and in the upcoming album, next to artists as Gary Winters or Oz Noy. He also recorded and composed “Thrice” from “Wojtek Justyna TreeOh!” (indicated for Grammy Consideration at the 65th annual Grammy Award Ceremony as “Best Contemporary Instrumental Album”) where they featured, Larry Goldings in “will to live”.
As educator Diogo has developed a musical and cultural movement at his Masterclasses in Portugal, The Netherlands, Poland, Canada and India, being the drum docent at “Deutsche Internationale Schule Den Haag” and a guest teacher at “ArtEZ University of the Arts” in the Jazz & Pop music department.
Diogo education passed through schools as:
Berklee College of Music, Codarts Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Academia Nacional e Superior de Orquestra and Escola Profissional de Música de Espinho. Through the pedagogy received at these institutions and also privately, he had classes and masterclasses with names such as Rainer Seegers, Nancy Zeltsman, Dave Samuels, Lenny Nelson, Alan Vater, Ed Saindon, Sergio Krakowski, Branford Marsalis, Eguie Castrillo, Eliel Lazo, Pedrito Martinez, Dafnis Prieto, Paquito González, Trilok Gurtu, Joaquim Alves, Nuno Aroso, Pedro Carneiro, Sebastian Scheriff, Manuel Campos, Marco Fernandes, Andrés Tarabbia, Marcos Cavaleiro, Bart Fermie, Jan Hartong, Nils Fischer, among others.
Diogo played the open act for bands such as Deep Purple, YellowJackets, Ghost-Note, Nik West or Ida Nielsen and shared the stage with artists like David Sanborn, Milton Nascimento, Ney Conceição, Big Mike, Gallowstreet Brass Band, Dutch Music Community, Shirma Rouse, Carlos Alberto Moniz, Carla Pires, Ana Malhoa, Bate e Bala and many others.
In addition to being a recording member for the record label “Space Grapes Records” by Bobby van Putten and Danilo Plessow aka Motor City Drum Ensemble, together with Wojtek Justyna, Alex Bernath and Daniel Lottersberger, he recorded and composed “Chocolate City” (indicated for Grammy Consideration at the 65th annual Grammy Award Ceremony as Best Instrumental Composition). Diogo is therefore a musician with a vast knowledge of musical styles and genres, known for his focus on developing ethnic and erudite percussion, in Portuguese Music and especially in the fusion of Modern Music.