Fernanda Silveira

Is a Cavaquinho player specializing in the Brazilian practices of Choro and Traditional Samba. Born on the island of Florianópolis (SC) - Brazil, she started in music at the age of eight, influenced and supported by her parents. She perfected herself with Wagner Segura (SC), cavaquinist Luciana Rabello (RJ), guitarist Mauricio Carrilho (RJ) and maestro Ian Guest (RJ), among others. She is a founding member of Choro Group Ginga do Mané (SC), and was a longtime member of the Traditional Samba group Um Bom Partido (SC). Since 2008, she has played cavaquinho for the Samba School Os Protegidos da Princesa (SC) at yearly Carnival Parades.

Fernanda has taught cavaquinho at the Wagner Segura Musical Center - in Florianópolis, at the EPM/UNIRIO Portable Music School - in Rio de Janeiro. She was a cavaquinho teacher at the second edition of the Choro Festival in the USA in the city of New England, known as Choro Camp de New England.  

As a Choro Regional musician, Fernanda has accompanied many artists including guitarists Yamandu Costa (RS) and Maurício Carrilho (RJ), clarinetist Nailor Proveta (SP), mandolinists Pedro Amorim (RJ), Geraldo Vargas (SC) and Miltinho Mori (SP), as well as Ronaldo do Bandolim and Jorginho do Pandeiro - both members of the group Conjunto Época de Ouro from Rio de Janeiro.

As a Traditional Samba side-musician, Fernanda has accompanied a variety of artists including Monarco (RJ), Nelson Sargento (RJ), Tantinho da Mangueira (RJ), and Nadinho da Ilha (RJ), as well as the Old Guards of Samba Schools including the Velha Guarda da Mangueira (RJ) and the Velha Guarda da Embaixada Copa Lord (SC), among others. Since 2017 she has contributed to the launch of Samba de Terreiro in Florianópolis / SC and Samba de Terreiro in Brooklyn.

Currently lives in the USA and plays Choro and Samba in the New Jersey and New York music scene. She is a teacher of cavaquinho at Rowan University Community Music School - in Glassboro, NJ.