Paulo Brito is a Brazilian-American composer and pianist, currently based in Toronto (Canada). First-Prize Winner of the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award (Japan), awarded by world-renowned composer Unsuk Chin for his orchestral work "Staring Wei Jie to Death," Brito has been featured at numerous international venues, including the Shanghai Conservatory New Music Week and University of Toronto New Music Festival. His music has been performed by prominent artists including Japanese Noh singer Ryoko Aoki, conductor Yoichi Sugiyama and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. As a featured emerging composer of the prestigious Voix Nouvelles (“New Voices”) program, his new work for the Ensemble Linéa will be premiered at the 2021 Royaumont Festival (France).

Brito’s music draws upon influences ranging from Western opera to East Asian music drama, reflecting his cross-cultural interest in fusing different performance forms—music, theater, dance—into unified, multidimensional expressive events. Much of his recent work explores the genre of contemporary music theater, where he has produced experimental, integrative pieces that vividly dramatize the concert setting while remaining fully abstract. Brito’s engagement with interdisciplinary performance is particularly informed by his study of Japanese Noh drama, the inspiration for pieces like his "Deadweight of Love" for Noh singer (2018), "Sotoba Komachi" for soprano and ensemble (2019), and "pedale traverso" (2020) for Baroque flute and electronics.