10 Contemporary Choro Flutists

Introduction

The flute has been at the heart of choro since the genre was born. Even before choro took shape as a language of its own, the flute already stood out as one of the leading voices of the rodas (informal gatherings where musicians play choro together), carrying melodies, improvising variations, and conversing with guitars, cavaquinhos and pandeiros.

When we think about the history of the flute in choro, it is almost impossible not to recall names such as Joaquim Callado, Viriato Figueira, Pixinguinha, Benedito Lacerda and Altamiro Carrilho. They helped to build the backbone of this tradition. But choro does not live on memory alone. It continues to be played, studied, reinvented and passed on by working musicians.

In this article, we have gathered 10 contemporary flautists connected to the world of choro and Brazilian instrumental music. This is not a definitive ranking, but a selection meant to open paths of listening and to show how the flute remains alive within choro today.

1. Toninho Carrasqueira

Toninho Carrasqueira is one of the great names of the Brazilian flute. His career moves naturally between concert music, popular music and choro, which makes him an important reference for anyone thinking about the flute in a broad sense.

His solid training, his work as a teacher and his relationship with the Brazilian repertoire help place him as a bridge between different worlds: the technical rigor of the classical school, the expressiveness of popular music and the melodic tradition of choro.

In choro, Carrasqueira represents a strand in which clarity of sound, technical control and elegance of phrasing meet the rhythmic mischief and interpretive freedom of the genre.

2. Dirceu Leitte

Dirceu Leitte is one of the great names of the winds in Brazil. A flautist, saxophonist, clarinetist and multi-instrumentalist, he has built a career marked by versatility and by his presence in different settings of Brazilian music.

In the world of choro, his importance lies in his command of the language of the winds, his relationship with the instrumental repertoire and his ability to move between tradition and modernity. But it is also important to remember his weight in samba: Dirceu is a strong name in both samba and choro, present in dozens of emblematic recordings of Brazilian music.

This circulation among rodas, stages, studios and major artists makes him a fundamental musician for understanding how the language of choro communicates with other Brazilian genres. His flute does not appear in isolation: it is part of a larger tradition of the winds in popular music.

3. Marcelo Bernardes

Marcelo Bernardes is another essential name among Brazilian wind players. A multi-instrumentalist, he plays flute, piccolo, clarinet and saxophones, with a long career in Brazilian popular music.

His career spans recordings, concerts, instrumental groups and collaborations with major names of MPB. This broad experience also shows in the way he approaches choro: with command of the repertoire, musical maturity and collective listening.

Marcelo is one of those musicians who show that the flute in choro does not depend on virtuosity alone. It also depends on phrasing, intention, knowledge of style and the ability to converse with the regional (the typical choro ensemble).

4. Edu Neves

Edu Neves is a flautist, saxophonist, composer and arranger. His music moves between choro, samba, gafieira (a Brazilian urban dance music and the ballrooms where it is played), jazz and contemporary Brazilian instrumental music.

This mixture does not dilute the choro. On the contrary: it shows how choro can work as a matrix for a modern language, full of swing, improvisation and harmonic sophistication.

On the flute, Edu Neves carries a sonority tied to Rio de Janeiro, to samba and to the Brazilian winds. He is an important musician for anyone who wants to grasp how the choro tradition can stay alive without becoming a museum piece.

5. Antônio Rocha

Antônio Rocha is a flautist deeply connected to the choro tradition. His work runs through ensemble playing, the traditional repertoire, research and music education.

He is a name associated with a line of continuity of the flauta chorona: the one that values the roda, the phrasing, the knowledge of the old recordings and the direct relationship with the great masters of the genre.

Antônio Rocha represents a school in which playing choro is not merely a matter of executing difficult notes. It is about knowing accents, breaths, melodic paths and ways of conversing with the seven-string guitar (violão de sete cordas), the cavaquinho and the pandeiro.

6. Dudu Oliveira

Dudu Oliveira is one of the working musicians who help reveal the vitality of the flute in choro today. A multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and music producer, he has the flute as one of his central instruments.

His career runs through popular music, choro, samba and different instrumental formations. This versatility shows in the way he plays: a flute with swing, command of the language and a strong connection to the living practice of Brazilian music.

Dudu also represents a generation that moves among rodas, stages, recordings, original projects and social media, helping to bring the choro repertoire closer to new audiences.

7. Naomi Kumamoto

Naomi Kumamoto is one of the most interesting figures of choro's international presence. Born in Japan and based in Brazil, she has become a bridge between cultures through the flute, teaching and musical practice.

Beyond being a flautist, Naomi also works as a transverse flute teacher at the Escola Portátil de Música, one of the most important training spaces connected to contemporary choro.

Her path reveals something very beautiful about choro: although it has deeply Brazilian roots, this language can be learned, loved and recreated by musicians from different parts of the world. Naomi is a living example of that circulation.

8. Morgana Moreno

Morgana Moreno is a flautist and composer from Bahia, with a career tied to choro, samba-jazz and Brazilian instrumental music. Her training runs through popular music and through the study of the flute in dialogue with different languages.

Her work draws attention for uniting technique, lyricism, improvisation and composition. Morgana represents a generation of instrumentalists who not only interpret established repertoires but also create new works and new possibilities for the Brazilian flute.

In the context of contemporary choro, her presence is also important for widening geographies. Choro is not confined to the Rio-São Paulo axis: it breathes in Salvador, Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Recife, Porto Alegre, Goiânia, abroad and in many other places.

9. Leandro Tigrão

Leandro Tigrão is a flautist and composer, with solid training and a career connected both to concert music and to Brazilian music. His work with choro reveals a search for expressiveness, virtuosity and research into the language.

Tigrão represents a generation that approaches choro with deep technical study, yet without losing the bond with the roda, the repertoire and the orality of the genre.

This combination of academic training, popular practice and original creation is one of the important marks of contemporary choro. The flute, in this context, remains an instrument of invention.

10. Alexandre Caldi

Alexandre Caldi is a saxophonist, flautist, composer, arranger and researcher. His career spans different formations of Brazilian instrumental music and a clear interest in popular languages.

His connection to choro appears both in the repertoire and in his musical research. Caldi's work links the Brazilian winds to worlds such as choro, samba, jazz, Latin American music and song.

He is an important musician for thinking about the contemporary flute not only as a solo instrument, but as part of a larger network of arrangements, counterpoints, dialogues and inventions.

A list to begin with, not to end the conversation

Every list about choro is incomplete by nature. The genre was born from the roda, and a good roda always has more people arriving, playing, disagreeing and adding names.

Beyond the 10 flautists highlighted here, it is also worth following names such as Adriana Losi, Alexandre Maionese and other musicians who keep the flute present in Brazilian instrumental music.

More than choosing "the greatest," the aim is to open paths of listening. Choro stays alive because there are musicians studying, playing, teaching, recording and creating new ways of blowing this tradition.

And you: which contemporary choro flautist should also join this roda?