Ricardo Kanji

Ricardo Kanji (1 March 1948 – 24 February 2025) was a Brazilian recorder player, flutist, conductor and luthier. For 12 years, he was a professor at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. He was a founding member of the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. Back in Brazil, he promoted historically informed performance there as a teacher and as director of Vox Brasiliensis choir and orchestra. He was artistic director of a project History of Brazilian Music, to explore the music of colonial Brazil.

Life and career Kanji was born in São Paulo on 1 March 1948. He began piano lessons with Tatiana Braunwieser at age seven, and three years later studied with Lavinia Viotti who introduced him to the recorder.

Kanji returned to Brazil in 1995, continuing to work as a performer, conductor, teacher, and luthier. and Hanneke van Proosdij.

Kanji was artistic director of the project History of Brazilian Music, which produced a series of television programs and CDs on the rich and little-known music of colonial Brazil. For this work he received an award from the Art Critics Association of São Paulo in 1999. The CD "Neukomm in Brazil," directed by Kanji and Rosana Lanzelotte received the Premio Bravo award in 2009 as best conductor the year; it was also nominated for the Latin Grammy.