Jovino Santos Neto

Jovino is a three-time Latin Grammy nominee, master pianist, composer, arranger, and educator, and one of the most important Brazilian musicians working today. Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Jovino is currently based in Seattle, where he leads a Quinteto + Trio. After teaching music and composition at Cornish College of the Arts for over two decades, he continues to lecture around the globe, speaking on topics like the connections between music + nature.

Jovino’s personal style is a creative blend of energetic grooves, deep harmonies, telepathic improvisation, lyrical melodies, and great ensemble playing—always inspired and informed by the colorful richness of Brazilian music. His compositions are rooted in centuries-old musical tradition while pointing to new and adventurous harmonic languages, including styles like samba, choro, baião, xote, forró, marcha, and many more. Jovino can also be heard around the world as a piano soloist, working with symphony orchestras, jazz big bands, chamber music groups, and in collaboration with musicians such as Hermeto Pascoal, Bill Frisell, Paquito d’Rivera, Airto Moreira, Claudio Roditi, David Sanchez, Anat Cohen, and many more.

In 2012, Jovino was inducted into the Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame—the same year he was awarded an Artist Trust Fellowship in Music. As a Quinteto, his ensemble has been recognized as the Best Northwest Acoustic Group in the Golden Ear Awards by Earshot Jazz in 2012, 2015, and 2018. In 2022, Jovino toured the UK, conducting the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, along with his mentor: Hermeto Pascoal. Honoring the work of his longtime mentor and collaborator, Jovino’s orchestration of Hermeto’s Suite Universal premiered by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in January 2019. He also led both the Luzern University Jazz Orchestra and Julliard Jazz Orchestra, focusing on Hermeto’s musical compositions.

Jovino is joined by Tim Carey on bass + Jeff Busch on drums.

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Every Monday, Olson Kundig starts the week with an all‑office meeting, and once a month this meeting is devoted to an outside guest speaker. The Olson Kundig Speaker Series was created by Alan Maskin over two decades ago with the goal of inspiring staff with presentations from people who work outside the realm of architecture. To date, more than 300 guests have come to speak in our offices. The forum is also available for internal speakers, who share completed project overviews, complex project details, and research findings, all with the aim of increasing our shared knowledge.

The theme of the 2025 Speaker Series is Multitudes. In an age where differing views and beliefs often estrange and divide us, it is worth noting that life itself is composed of contradiction, inconsistency, and surprise. We ourselves are no strangers to the dualities within. Multitudes explores stories from our human epoch that reveal the beauty of unexpected unions—how unrelated and seemingly opposing forces can collide to create something wonderful.