BIO
Described and praised by his “virtuoso performance”, “amazed by the performer’s technique”, “Listeners were riveted to the performer”. Clarinetist Thiago has an active career as a chamber musician, orchestral player, and soloist. Awarded in over ten competitions, including the prestigious "New Talents of Brazilian Music". Thiago has performed in eleven countries around Europe, South America, and North America, including Argentina, Colombia, Poland, Belgium, Switzerland, Hungary, Germany, Slovenia, Italy, and Switzerland. Performing in venues such as Tonhalle of Zurich, Stadt Casino Basel, Radio Nacional in Cordoba, Sala Sao Paulo, Detroit Orchestra Hall, and others. Additionally, he has performed in more than twenty US states where he resides.
A passionate educator, Mr. Ancelmo served as the clarinet teaching assistant at the University of Iowa from 2013 - 2017, in this function he taught clarinet majors and non-majors, chamber music, led weekly seminars, and taught clarinet methods and techniques classes for music ed. students. Besides his teaching responsibilities at UI, he joined the University of Dubuque as an adjunct instructor of clarinet and World Music. He is frequently invited to teach at music festivals and conferences in South and North America. Recently, he led master classes at distinguished music institutions in the US, Poland, Brazil, Colombia, Canada, and Argentina. As a researcher, Mr. Ancelmo presents lectures and papers on Penderecki’s music for the clarinet at national and international conferences. Most recently, his article “Henry Lazarus: The Life and Repertoire of a Leading English Clarinetist of the 19th Century” was published in the International Clarinet Association journal, The Clarinet. He has participated at the ClarinetFest 2020, presenting a lecture about the music for clarinet by K. Penderecki, and has been selected for Clarinetfest 2021 and 2023.
As a performer, Thiago keeps a busy schedule as an orchestral player and chamber musician. As orchestral player he frequently performs with the principal orchestras in Iowa, such as: Orchestra Iowa, Des Moines Symphony and Dubuque Symphony, in recent years he has been invited to play with Phoenix Symphony, Sphinx Symphony Orchestra and Akron Symphony Orchestra. He has worked with distinguished conductors like Kurt Masur, Rodolfo Fischer, Michael Morgan, Isaac Karabtchevsky, Ligia Amadio, and others. An advocate of the music of our time, Thiago has been involved in many projects to promote new music, both in Brazil, the USA, and Switzerland, working with established composers such as David Lang, Augusta Read Thomas, Heinz Holliger, Nina Shekhar, David Biedenbender, and many others. He premiered works by composers from Brazil, Iran, China, Greece, the US, Argentina, and Japan. Thiago is a founding member of Khemia Ensemble (www.khemiaensemble.com), a new music chamber group whose mission is to promote music by living composers. Since 2015, Khemia has engaged in numerous national and international tours, performed at prestigious music festivals, and held residencies at distinguished universities. Khemia released its first album, “Voyages,” in 2016 and will record its second album in 2021. Among the many diverse artists Thiago has collaborated with are Garth Newel Piano Quartet, JACK Quartet, visual artist Kuldeep Singh, dancer Jennifer Kayle, photographer Natali Pacheco Contreras, and many others. His solo debut was at the age of 16, and since then, he has constantly appeared as a soloist, performing concerti by Weber, Mozart, Mignone, Welcher, Navarro, and others.
Mr. Ancelmo is convinced of the social power that music has and how it can change entire communities, bringing people together. In recent years, he has performed in retirement centers, Nursing homes, public schools and hospitals. In 2014, he performed in the “International Women’s Day” and Funding Raising Night for Syrian refugees, events organized by the United Nations local office in Iowa City.
Thiago received his Master of Arts in Music Performance with high distinction at the Hochschule fur Musik der Stadt Basel, Basel, Switzerland, where he was the recipient of the Ruth und Hans Rapp Scholarship. He is a DMA candidate (ABD) in clarinet performance and pedagogy at the University of Iowa, where he was awarded the Iowa Performance Fellowship by the Graduate College of the University of Iowa. His dissertation topic is about Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki and his music for clarinet.
Currently, he serves as the visiting assistant professor of clarinet at Utah State University, where he works with a fantastic group of students and colleagues. He is also the clarinet instructor at New England Summer Camp in Maine. On his free time, he enjoys a good conversation with his beautiful and intelligent wife, Margaret. Additionally, reading, running and soccer are true passion for him.