Junia Canton

Originally from Belo Horizonte, Junia Canton holds a  Bachelor’s degree in Piano (1995) Master’s degree (2004) and a Doctorate Degree (2024) in Piano Performance from the Federal University of Minas Gerais.  She holds a postgraduate certificate in Brazilian Music Performance Practices from the School of Music at the State University of Minas Gerais (2002). She studied with renowned Brazilian teachers and musicians such as Celina Szrvinsk, Luis Senise, Berenice Menegale, Eduardo Hazan, Oiliam Lanna, and the Dutch pianist Frédéric Meinders.

Junia Canton is currently a piano professor at UEMG - State University of Minas Gerais - since 1998. She has developed a distinguished career in Brazil. Her students received over 300 awards in competitions in Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, and the United States. Some of them have performed with prominent Brazilian conductors such as Roberto Tibiriçá and Júlio Medaglia playing with orchestras including the Minas Gerais Philharmonic, the Minas Gerais Symphony Orchestra, and the Prelúdio Orchestra of São Paulo. Many of her former students are now professors or collaborative pianists at prestigious universities in Brazil and abroad.

She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Brazil, Portugal, Italy, and the United States and has been invited to appear in nationally and internationally recognized concert series and festivals. She has performed as a soloist with orchestras and large ensembles, playing the first piano part in Les Noces by Igor Stravinsky and Catulli Carmina by Carl Orff for choir, four pianos, and percussion. She has also performed concertos by Bach, Mozart, and Saint-Saëns as a soloist with orchestras.

Alongside pianist Heron Alvim Moreira, she has performed in major Brazilian cities such as Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Vitória, Belo Horizonte, Florianópolis, and Campo Grande. In Portugal, they performed in Lisbon, Évora, and Óbidos, and in the United States, in cities across Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., Connecticut, and West Virginia.

Junia Canton is a prominent researcher and interpreter of the Brazilian composer J. A. R. de Almeida Prado, frequently invited to give performances, recordings for video, radio, and television, and lectures about his works.

She has won numerous awards in Brazilian and South American piano competitions. In 2017, she received a scholarship from the Valerie Canady Foundation, West Virginia, USA. In 2020, as an audiovisual producer, she was awarded the RespirArte Prize by Funarte, the Cena Plural Prize from the City of Belo Horizonte, and First Place in the Arte em Casa program by the Legislative Assembly of Minas Gerais.

In 2015, Junia Canton and pianist Monica Tessitore created and coordinated the first International Piano Week at Cushing Academy, in Ashburnham, Massachusetts which will be back for it’s 3rd year in 2025. Finally, Junia has also coordinated the project “The Potential of Musicalization of Brazilian Piano Works”, inspired by the "Universe of Childhood and Elements of Brazilian Culture” -  developed at the State University of Minas Gerais.