Biography

Barbara Piperno, born in 1980, began studying music at the age of five.
She graduated in flute from the Conservatorio G. Rossini in Pesaro (Italy) in 1996.
Her classical music career began with a national competition, the Concorso Nazionale Città di Sannicandro Garganico, where she won as a soloist. She also won several international competitions with the chamber ensemble Cherubino Flute Ensemble, with whom she recorded several CDs and performed in numerous concerts in Italy and abroad.
She has played, and occasionally still plays, with various orchestras and was a member of the classical trio Ban Ensemble for ten years.

In 2003, Barbara discovered her voice as an additional means of expression and began exploring other musical genres. Since then, she has developed a deep passion for Brazilian popular music, and in 2011 she encountered Choro (Brazilian instrumental music) for the first time.
The following year, after a period of study and research in Brazil, she recorded a CD titled Chorando na Toscana, with the group Choro de Rua, featuring traditional choros.

In 2013, she released an album with the quintet Circolo Odeòn, featuring classical choros and Italian popular tunes (Liscio Romagnolo), reinterpreted with a “choristic” touch. In the same year, she also released a second Choro de Rua album, in duo with Brazilian 7-string guitarist Marco Ruviaro, titled Aeroplanando.

In 2015 she recorded another CD called “A roda dos planetas errantes”, released in 2016, featuring compositions by Italian pianist and composer Giovanni Guaccero (some of them choros), performed together with him and Marco Ruviaro. The album was produced by Alfa Music and distributed by Egea.

In 2016, she renewed her collaboration with musician and sinologist Filippo Costantini, launching an original project based on traditional Chinese music, titled Dialogues between a Guqin and a Dizi. They performed at several universities in Italy and abroad, including tours in Mexico and Spain.

In 2017, she started a new project called Regional Matuto, a Choro quartet featuring original compositions and classic tunes. Their debut took place in Germany in January. The group includes Marco Ruviaro (mandolin), Fernando de La Rua (7-string guitar), and Marco Zanotti (pandeiro and cajón). They were also invited to perform at the first Choro Festival in Brussels in December 2017 and to give a Choro masterclass at the prestigious Hochschule für Musik in Nuremberg.

In 2019, she began another exciting collaboration with Brazilian pianist and multi-instrumentalist Elizabeth Fadel, centered on Choro and classical music. They have already performed together in Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.

After a year of deep research into contemporary Choro, in November 2020 she released her new CD with Choro de Rua, titled Santo Bálsamo, published by Visage Music and distributed by Egea.
The album features works by Marco Ruviaro, Hamilton de Holanda, and André Mehmari, with special guests Gabriele Mirabassi (clarinet) and Elizabeth Fadel (piano).
(Those interested in purchasing a copy of Santo Bálsamo can visitwww.gofundme.com/choroderua-cd and choose your personal reward)

Between 2021 and 2024 she recorded in Paris a new album with her compositions and compositions of the Colombian musician Pedro Barrios, in quartet with two great Cuban musicians: Felipe Cabrera and Inor Sotolongo. The album will be released in 2025-2026

Between 2021 and 2024, she recorded a new album in Paris featuring her own compositions and those of Colombian musician Pedro Barrios, in a quartet with Cuban musicians Felipe Cabrera and Inor Sotolongo. The album is scheduled for release in 2025-2026.

Between 2021 and 2023, she contributed to several albums, including:

Canto Estrangeiro — compositions by Giovanni Guaccero with lyrics by Brazilian poet Eloi Stein — alongside Tatiana Valle, Giovanni Guaccero, Marco Ruviaro, Bruno Marcozzi, Carlos Cesar Motta, Henrique Cazes, and others. Released by Encore Music (Italy) in May 2022.

Lua Adversa — by Portuguese singer Cristina Clara, distributed by Sony Music Entertainment Portugal in November 2021. The album features reimagined and original songs reflecting a contemporary vision of tradition, performed by musicians from jazz, Portuguese folk, and Brazilian popular music scenes.

In 2023, Barbara began a new collaboration with renowned Italian harpist Susanna Bertuccioli (principal harp of the Maggio Fiorentino Orchestra), performing a beautiful Brazilian repertoire where Barbara plays flute and sings.
That same year, she created her first autobiographical solo project, A Marcha das Bárbaras, featuring voice, flute, loop station, and small percussion instruments.

Between March 2020 and March 2024, Barbara divided her time between Paris and Bologna.

In 2023, Barbara also developed a passion for Forró, the traditional music of Northeastern Brazil. She began playing the triangle and delving into this vast new repertoire, which shares many affinities with Choro.

In 2025, Barbara began to engage more concretely in composition, focusing mainly on Choro pieces, but not exclusively.

In 2026, Choro de Rua will release their fourth album, entirely dedicated to contemporary Choro.

Alongside her concert activity, Barbara teaches and leads Choro and Roda de Choro workshops throughout Italy and Europe. Together with Marco Ruviaro, she co-founded and coordinates Choro Camp Italia, whose first edition took place in Bologna in 2025, attracting students from around the world.
She is literally trying to spread Choro around the world.