Composer · Educator · Oud player
Biography & artistic practice
About Caio
Caio Facó is a Brazilian composer, educator and oud player whose work spans orchestral and chamber music, solo performance and electronics. His music draws on Brazilian cultural memory and on encounters with the musical traditions of the Gulf, where he now lives and teaches. He is interested in decolonial musical practices and in questioning whose histories and traditions shape contemporary music. Close collaboration with performers informs his writing. Alongside composition, he performs his own projects for oud and electronics and teaches music composition and sound for screen. He is Assistant Professor of Music and Sound Design at Bahrain Polytechnic.
Listen · Uncarved Block
Caio Facó · oud and electronics · 2026
“Facó is one of the most prominent Brazilian composers contributing to contemporary classical music.”
Minas Gerais Philharmonic Orchestra
01 / Artistic practice
Orchestra, chamber music & oud
Caio explores timbre, gesture and musical form through Brazilian cultural memory and the histories of South America.
His interest in decolonial thought connects these histories with questions of power, identity and representation. Cangaceiros e Fanáticos, for string quartet, takes its starting point from Rui Facó’s book. Las venas abiertas de América Latina, for violin and string orchestra, responds to Eduardo Galeano’s account of colonialism and exploitation in Latin America.
Living in Bahrain has opened another strand of this practice. In Neither of the East nor of the West and Uncarved Block, Caio performs on the oud in dialogue with electronics and synthesisers.
02 / In collaboration
Music made through exchange
Performers
His collaborators include violinist and conductor Emmanuele Baldini (Italy/Brazil), flautist Jiajia Li (China/Canada) and bass clarinettist Frederic Cardoso (Portugal). Working directly with performers shapes the instrumental writing and interpretation of his music.
His catalogue ranges from solo works to large orchestral scores, with chamber music forming an important part of that exchange.
Ensembles
His music has been performed by the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP), Minas Gerais Philharmonic Orchestra, International Contemporary Ensemble, Mivos Quartet, CEPROMUSIC Ensemble, Ensemble MPMP and Orquesta de Cámara de Valdivia, among others.
03 / Teaching & research
Across two continents
Caio is Assistant Professor of Music and Sound Design at Bahrain Polytechnic. His teaching connects composition and musical listening with sound for film and animation, bringing experience from music programmes in Brazil into a setting shaped by moving images and storytelling.
Before moving to Bahrain, he taught at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) and then the State University of Santa Catarina (UDESC). His teaching spans composition, orchestration, music theory and sound practice.
He holds a PhD in Music (2022) and a Master of Music (2018) from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). His artistic and research interests centre on timbre, listening and cultural memory, and on the ways musical ideas change through encounters between traditions.
04 / Selected recognition
Prizes, grants & residencies
Awards & selections
His work has received recognition in the Concurso Internacional Novos Compositores, promoted by the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa, and he is a two-time recipient of the Prêmio Funarte de Composição Clássica.
At the Festival Tinta Fresca, Aproximações Áureas received an honourable mention in 2016, Pandora was a finalist in 2017, and Ensaio sobre cores e sombras was a finalist in 2018.
Ibermúsicas & Paredes
An Ibermúsicas-supported residency in Paredes, Portugal brought together composition, concerts, recordings and a composition masterclass at the Conservatório de Música de Paredes.
The project included collaboration with Frederic Cardoso and artistic consultation on a recording of Brazilian music for solo bass clarinet.
For concert programmes & presenters
Short biography
Caio Facó is a Brazilian composer, educator and oud player. His music spans orchestral, chamber and solo works, alongside projects for oud and electronics. Drawing on Brazilian cultural memory and encounters with the musical traditions of the Gulf, he develops his work through close collaboration with performers. His music has been performed by ensembles including the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, International Contemporary Ensemble, Mivos Quartet and Ensemble MPMP. He holds a PhD in Music from UFRGS and is Assistant Professor of Music and Sound Design at Bahrain Polytechnic, with teaching experience across South America and Asia.
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For commissions, performances, score enquiries, teaching and artistic research.
