Inês de Avena Braga

Born in 1983 in Rio de Janeiro, recorder player Inês d'Avena (Inês de Avena Braga) has been playing the recorder since the age of four. Inês moved to The Netherlands in 2001 to pursue her studies in Early Music. She holds Bachelor’s, Master’s and teaching diplomas from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, where she studied with Reine-Marie Verhagen and Sébastien Marq. Since graduating in 2007, Inês specializes in the research and performance of Neapolitan Baroque music. Inês has also been passionately working on the revival of forgotten Italian Baroque recorders, commissioning copies and premiering the instruments in concerts and recordings.

In 2010, she was the winner of the II International Competition Prince Francesco Maria Ruspoli, and the year after, her duo LOTUS with Claudio Ribeiro won the second prize at the prestigious Premio Bonporti. Inês has performed as soloist and in chamber and orchestral formations throughout Europe and her native Brazil, with ensembles such as LOTUS, COLLEGIUM MUSICUM Den Haag and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra.

In 2011, Inês founded the ensemble La Cicala, which is dedicated entirely to the research and performance of uncharted Neapolitan Baroque repertoire. She has recorded CDs for the labels ORF Edition Alte Musik, Passacaille and Channel Classics, as well as independent releases.

Inês was awarded a PhD scholarship by the CAPES Foundation - Ministry of Education of Brazil in 2012 and in that same year became a Research Supervisor for the Master's Program of the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. Inês is a CD reviewer for Early Music America Magazine and has had scholarly articles published in the Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society, Music+Practice and Recercare.

Her docARTES doctoral defense took place on July 2nd, 2015 at Leiden University.