Rafael Piccolotto de Lima is a Brazilian composer, arranger, conductor, and music director whose work brings Brazilian music into dialogue with jazz and contemporary orchestral writing. Nominated for a Latin Grammy as a classical composer at the age of 27, he has built an international career through original music, orchestral arrangements, recordings, concert direction, and long-term artistic projects developed across the Americas and Europe.

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His works, arrangements, and productions have involved internationally recognized artists including Chick Corea, Terence Blanchard, Brad Mehldau, Gregory Porter, Ivan Lins, Romero Lubambo, Hamilton de Holanda, João Bosco, Mônica Salmaso, Liniker, Alceu Valença, Chico César, Vanessa da Mata, Martinho da Vila, and Alcione. His music has also been connected with orchestras and institutions such as the Brasil Jazz Sinfônica, Metropole Orkest, Symphony of the Americas, Symphonic Jazz Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, BMI Jazz Composers Workshop, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and National Sawdust.

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Born in Campinas, Brazil, Rafael developed his musical language through the simultaneous study of classical composition, Brazilian popular music, jazz, and large ensemble writing. At UNICAMP, the University of Campinas, he completed degrees in classical composition and popular music performance while working as a saxophonist, arranger, composer, and conductor in chamber, orchestral, and Brazilian instrumental music projects. As a FAPESP research fellow, he conducted an extensive study of the Brazilian big band tradition focused on the work of composer and arranger Nailor Azevedo “Proveta” and Banda Mantiqueira. The research combined historical cataloging, musical analysis, and interviews, establishing an important foundation for his continuing engagement with Brazilian orchestral writing.

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Rafael later moved to the United States to pursue graduate studies at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, where he earned a Master of Music in Studio Jazz Writing and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Jazz Composition. During his five years in Miami, he served as Composer Fellow and assistant conductor at the Henry Mancini Institute, supported by the ASCAP Foundation Henry Mancini Music Fellowship. In this role, he worked closely with artists, composers, and conductors including Maria Schneider, Vince Mendoza, Terence Blanchard, and James Newton Howard through concerts, recordings, workshops, orchestral productions, and educational initiatives.

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One of the major projects from this period was “Spanish Suite,” an extended orchestral arrangement that brought together Chick Corea’s “Spain” and Joaquín Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez.” The work was performed by Chick Corea, Terence Blanchard, opera singer Eric Owens, and the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra as part of the “Jazz and the Philharmonic” production, which was subsequently released through PBS broadcasts, television programming, and DVD. During his graduate years, Rafael also received 13 DownBeat Awards in composition, arrangement, conducting, recording engineering, and studio production, as well as two ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards.

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His doctoral dissertation, “Blurred Distinctions; Beyond Third Stream: A Study in Composition of Confluent Hybrid Musical Styles: The Amalgam of Jazz and Classical Concert Music,” examined the work of Maria Schneider, Vince Mendoza, and John Psathas. The research investigated the relationship between jazz and concert music, including the use of improvisation within hybrid compositional practices, and became a central conceptual foundation for Rafael’s own orchestral work.

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After moving to New York in 2016, Rafael joined the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop, where he developed new music within one of the principal forums for contemporary jazz orchestra composition in the United States. He also founded the Rafael Piccolotto de Lima Chamber Project, presenting original music at Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Rockwood Music Hall, and Shapeshifter Lab. An extended residency at Dizzy’s Club with Brazilian guitarist Romero Lubambo resulted in a live album released by Sunnyside Records, with liner notes by Wynton Marsalis.

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Rafael is also the founder and artistic director of Orquestra Urbana, established in São Paulo in 2014 as a platform for his original compositions, arrangements, and collaborations between orchestral and jazz musicians. The orchestra has performed at Sala São Paulo, SESC São Paulo, and other Brazilian cultural institutions, bringing together musicians associated with Banda Mantiqueira, the Brasil Jazz Sinfônica, and leading orchestras in the country.

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His project Forró Sem Palavras explores northeastern Brazilian musical traditions through chamber and orchestral writing, with improvisation incorporated into its performance language. The project has been presented at National Sawdust, the Toronto Jazz Festival, the Montreal Forró Festival, Brooklyn Public Library, Shapeshifter Lab, SESC São Paulo, and other venues and festivals across the Americas. It has also expanded into orchestral collaborations featuring Brazilian instrumental musicians including Toninho Ferragutti, Edu Ribeiro, and Paulo Braga.

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In Brazil, Rafael maintains an ongoing collaboration with the Brasil Jazz Sinfônica, for which he has written dozens of arrangements and orchestral works. These productions have involved artists including Ivan Lins, João Bosco, Liniker, Vanessa da Mata, Tim Bernardes, Dora Morelenbaum, Mônica Salmaso, Toninho Ferragutti, Alceu Valença, Martinho da Vila, Alcione, Arnaldo Antunes, Chico César, Mariana Aydar, Mestrinho, and Céu. Many of the concerts have been recorded and broadcast nationally by TV Cultura.

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As a conductor and music director, Rafael has led symphonic concerts, jazz orchestra productions, recording projects, and collaborations devoted to contemporary Brazilian music. His broader professional work also encompasses recording production, artistic curation, research, education, mentorship, and the development of projects connecting artists, orchestras, universities, and cultural institutions. Following his Latin Grammy nomination, he became a voting member of both the Latin Recording Academy and the Recording Academy in the United States.