Diego Calasso is a Brazilian educator, musician, percussionist, and composer, active between Brazil and Europe. His career is defined by the integration of Brazilian popular culture, education, performing arts, and social inclusion, fostering cultural exchanges between Latin America and Europe.
Son of filmmaker, cultural producer, actor, and cultural activist Júlio Calasso, he grew up in direct contact with important Brazilian artists — an experience that shaped his musical sensibility and his commitment to art as a tool for social transformation. He trained in Capoeira under Mestre Brasília and in Performing Arts at C.E.T.E. (Centro Experimental Teatro Escola – RJ), under the general direction of Antonio Pedro.
He has worked as an arts educator since 2003, developing projects in capoeira, percussion, popular dance, theater, and play-based learning across diverse contexts, including social projects and institutions focused on inclusive education in Brazil, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy, and the Netherlands. Since 2017, he has been based in Europe, collaborating with schools, community centers, projects linked to the Autism Federation of Ticino (Switzerland), and independent cultural initiatives.
As a musician, he moves between Brazilian popular music, Latin American sounds, and traditional percussion. As a composer, he released the album Sudakasbeat (2014) with the group “Ciganos en Fuga,” which, in partnership with Esteban Hetsch and Dom Lampa, completed two European tours in 2016 and 2017. He is also the founder of “Projeto Sondilá,” through which he released the album De Onde Vens (2024), Esse Mundo (2026) — a record that brings together great masters of capoeira and Brazilian popular culture — as well as various singles that showcase the musical breadth of Projeto Sondilá. He has also contributed as a musician and percussionist on numerous recordings in Brazil, Portugal, Italy, and Switzerland.
He works across different projects between Brazil and Europe, having been a member of the São Paulo group “El Cartel Cumbia” since 2008, and of the Swiss group from Appenzell “Rondom” since 2021. Throughout his career, he has also accompanied several national and international artists, including Tião Carvalho, Vitor da Trindade, Manuele Collaci, and La Combi, broadening his experience across diverse musical and cultural contexts.
He currently lives in Utrecht, the Netherlands, where he develops a solo project called “Collective Solo” — a performance that, through percussion instruments, flute, electronic instruments, and a loop station, is rooted in Brazilian popular music, presented by a DJ who plays live, both in concerts and in workshops.
Alongside this, he works in theater and contemporary circus, having been a member of the company “The Bigosty Shows” since 2013, touring across various European countries and performing at SESC venues in Brazil, as well as collaborating with the theater groups “Finzi Pasca” and “C.E.T.E.”
His artistic practice values deep listening, collective creation, and the bond between art, territory, and identity. Diego Calasso has built an artistic career marked by an active presence at major national and international festivals. In Brazil, he has participated in prominent events such as the Circuito Sesc de Artes and Prata da Casa, bringing his work to diverse audiences across the country. On the international stage, he has been part of renowned European festivals, including Berlin Lacht in Germany, Di Strada in Strada in Italy, and Buskers di Lugano in Switzerland, as well as festivals in the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Austria, and Belgium — cementing his presence in the international arts scene.
DIEGO CALASSO
