top of page
download.png

ABOUT 

Born in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, Catina DeLuna grew up in a musical environment. Her father is a music lover and a huge supporter of local musicians, and her mother, a classical music aficionado. Catina grew up with frequent gatherings of musicians in her home, called saraus, where music played all night long. These seminal memories served as her first musical education and would become the primary inspiration for the unique musician Catina has become. A Bossa Nova fan in her teens, Catina fell in love with jazz piano. She began her performing career at age sixteen, playing solo piano in local venues and recording jingles both as a pianist and singer at top studios. Later, she received a B.A. in Brazilian Popular Music at the prestigious UNICAMP University in São Paulo and a M.M.A in Music at Northern Illinois University. Additionally, she served as a visiting scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

 

Catina fuses genres in a unique blend of jazz and traditional Brazilian music, all with a melting tone, agile and emotive phrasing, and a singular, warm timbre. Whether singing or playing the piano, Catina is deeply informed by her experience composing and arranging, offering a sophisticated, evocative performance that only exists in a lifelong listener to Brazilian music, a speaker of its native tongue, and the extraordinary vision and musicianship to reimagine the genre in a contemporary context. Catina founded and developed two award winning musical groups in Brazil. In the United States, her debut album, "Catina DeLuna & Lado B Brazilian Project featuring Otmaro Ruiz” co-led by master pianist and arranger Mr. Ruiz received a GRAMMY nomination in 2016.

redu1.jpg

"Ms. DeLuna’s instrument is that intimate voice she commands so well."
- Doug Boynton,  Girl Singers - WHRV

Highlights, Awards & Honors

  • Contributor in "The Musician's Lifeline" book by Peter Erskine and Dave Black.

  • GRAMMY AWARD NOMINATION with her debut album "Catina DeLuna & Lado B Brazilian Project featuring Otmaro Ruiz".

  • Member of the Pi Kappa Lambda Honors Society. 

  • Grant recipient: Center for Latino and Latin American Studies at NIU to carry out research on maracatu in Brazil.    

​​

  • Visiting Scholar School of Music, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA. 

  • Serenata Brasileira Group: award from the Linguistic Academy of Campinas for outstanding cultural contribution. 

  • Carlos Gomes Medal for excellence in cultural contribution to the city of Campinas. 

 

  • Arirê Finalist for the XII Sharp Prize for the recording of “Arirê”, self-titled album.

bottom of page