About

Ian Coury is an award-winning 10-string bandolim player and composer from Brazil who has shared stages with Brazilian legends like Toninho Horta and Hamilton de Holanda, and is currently studying at Berklee. English-born multi-style cellist Catherine Bent, an alumna of Cirque du Soleil, has performed and recorded with Joe Jackson, Lee Konitz and many others. Catherine is an Associate Professor at Berklee, teaching in multiple departments. The two have a musical connection that transcends their backgrounds and crystallizes around their passion for Brazilian choro and forró. Since 2021 they have given more than 40 performances together in the US and Brazil.
Listen and watch us here: www.tinyurl.com/CouryBent

Music

We draw on 130+ years of Afro-European music forged in the coastal cities of Brazil. Choro originated in Rio de Janeiro when music from European ballrooms was played on Brazilian soil by local musicians. Samba emerged later from choro. Forró (dance music native to Bahia) flowed from the same sources but resulted in different flavors and rhythms. We (Catherine and Ian) love to play the traditional music of Pixinguinha, Jacob do Bandolim, Ernesto Nazareth, Luiz Gonzaga, Dominguinhos et al, modern composers like Guinga, Hermeto Pascoal and Sivuca, and our own compositions.

“Chorinhos are cheery, tidy, charming love poems in their native Brazil. Catherine Bent and Ian Coury deftly captured the precise grace and delicate humor in beautifully crafted, genially executed chorinhos — classic and original — at Club Passim in April 2023. Look forward to fresh recordings and more lively performances by this dynamic, copacetic duo.” — Fred Bouchard, New York City Jazz Record/Downbeat Magazine

Videos