About Me
Fernanda Cunha is a Brazilian singer from Rio de janeiro. Niece of Brazilian composer Sueli Costa and daughter of singer Telma Costa, she brought up in a rich musical environment. Fernanda started her career in 1997. Her first performance was in Vinicius Bar - Rio de Janeiro (favorite bossa nova club in Rio) with a trio of piano, bass and drums, followed by others performances in Brazil.In 2000 Fernanda had an opportunity to sing in Cleveland - Ohio with guitarist Michael Manderen (Director of Oberlin Conservatory). Also she performed in Rock and Roll Hall of fame, Blossom summer festival, Shaker jazz fest, Nightown, and others places in US accompanied by Grupo Brasil ( Kip Reed on bass, Gary Aprile on guitar, Matt Perko on drums).In July 2002 Fernanda decided to record her first album solo. She invited Grupo Brasil and the Brazilian pianist Márcio Hallack to play in the CD. The CD "O tempo e o lugar" was recorded in Cleveland at Clockwerke studios and was released in Brazil ( Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais). The repertoire includes some sambas like "Muito Obrigado"(by Djavan), balads like "Velas icadas" (by Ivan Lins and Vitor Martins), bossa novas like "Tim tim por tim tim"(by Haroldo Barbosa), among others.In January 2004 Fernanda was invited to record a new album “ Dois corações†, a tribute to Sueli Costa and Johnny Alf.In 2005 Fernanda made her first appearance in Canada performing at Yardbirdsuite- Edmonton and Calgary .In 2007 Fernanda returned to Canada to perform in some jazz festivals like Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Edmonton Jazz festival, Calgary and Fernie. Back to Brazil she recorded the album “ZÃngaro†with guitar player Ze Carlos, performing songs written by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Chico Buarque. The album was released in Brazil, US and Canada, and Fernanda performed again at the 2008 summer jazz festivals in Canada including Vancouver, Toronto, Kamloops, Ashcroft and Penticton and in winter of 2009 at Yardbirdsuite-Edmonton, Vancouver and Medicine Hat.Fernanda has just recorded a new album with Brazilian and Canadian songs featuring the trio Ricardo Rito( piano), Mike Lent ( bass) and Sandro Dominelli ( drums). She also invited Ze Carlos(guitar) and Sueli Costa(piano) as special guests. The Cd “ Brasil-Canada†features songs by Sueli Costa, Noel Rosa, Joni Mitchel, Bruce Cockburn, Shelton Brooks, Mike Lent (lyrics by Fernanda) among others.In May she toured in Portugal with pianist Camilla Dias.
