Diego Carneiro was born in Belém, in the Amazon region of Brazil. He studied cello, piano, viola da gamba and conducting, in Brazil; at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri; at Trinity College of Music in London; and at the Haute Ecole de Musique, in Switzerland.

Diego moved to Quito, Ecuador in 2016, where he has been pursuing a dual career as conductor of the Orquesta Joven del Ecuador (Youth Orchestra of Ecuador) and as a concert cellist. In recent years, the Orquesta Joven del Ecuador has become a musical home for refugees from Venezuela and other South American countries, allowing them to continue the music education that was begun in their home countries.

As a performer, Diego has participated as a soloist and teacher in many international festivals, including the London Promenade at the Royal Albert Hall. He has also produced three documentaries, “A Cello in Kenya”, “Amazon, the Resonant Jungle” and “Conference of the Birds”, which reflect his studies of musical composition related to birdsong. He performs concerts and gives classes in countries on five different continents. Earlier this year, Diego spent three months as a Rotary Peace Fellow at the Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.

 In 2009, Diego established a foundation called AmazonArt, originally based in London and now based in Ecuador, with the mission of “changing lives through music.” AmazonArt promotes innovative concerts in developing countries, using music to foster cultural exchange between nations. To learn more about Amazon Art and the Orquesta Joven del Ecuador, you can visit their website, which is www.amazonarts.org.