Henrique Gomide, Céline Rudolph, João Luís Nogueira
Biography Henrique Gomide, Céline Rudolph, João Luís Nogueira
AMARÉ
is a trio that navigates between the rich heritage of Brazilian music and the expansive freedom of jazz improvisation. Their debut album is set for Oct 3rd 2025 on Challenge Records. Their name reflects a duality between – A Maré/ the tide and Amar é…/ to love is… On stage, AMARÉ generates an atmosphere that’s both immersive and electrifying – where moments of deep introspection meet bursts of wild, untamed energy. Their performances resonate with a sense of familiarity while pushing boundaries, offering a fresh take on modern jazz infused with the pulse of Brazil’s musical heartbeat. Besides original compositions the trio revisits gems by Brazilian composers such as João Donato, Gilberto Gil, Toninho Horta and Cartola with a lot of improvisation and fiery rhythms.
Céline Rudolph
The singer and globetrotter Céline Rudolph navigates the realms of experimental jazz, Brazilian music, African-influenced music, and evocative chansons, as well as urban singer-songwriter sounds, moving effortlessly between Berlin, São Paulo, Bordeaux, and New York. She allows herself to be carried by genres, languages, and cities, always landing precisely in the realm of music.
Born in Berlin, Céline grew up immersed in her French mother’s collection of chansons and her German father’s love for jazz and Brazilian music. As a self-taught musician, she began composing on the piano and wrote her first French songs on the guitar at the age of 12. On her birthday, she received a small Fostex 4-track recorder, and it was love and obsession at first sight! For the first time, multiple melodies could be layered, fostering a sense of compositional complexity, and the joy of producing music granted her early autonomy.
“Music is like breathing, it has always been there,” she says, recalling how her father would pause while playing the guitar, allowing the children to improvise. Early on, she fell in love with the Brazilian language and began writing poetic lyrics in German or French. Initially studying philosophy, she later traded her desk for the stage and pursued studies in jazz vocals and composition. She improvised with Bobby McFerrin, learned from Djembe master Famoudou Konaté, traveled to Brazil and West Africa, and even created her own vocal language. Praised by the press as “one of the most beautiful European jazz voices” (Stefan Franzen, Badische Zeitung), Céline is highly regarded by colleagues such as Lionel Loueke, Burniss Travis, Bobby McFerrin, Gary Peacock, Naná Vasconcelos, Lee Konitz, Wolfgang Haffner, and Till Brönner. She has shared the stage and worked in the studio with these artists.
Céline Rudolph has embarked on tours across Europe, Asia, South and North America. Three albums were created solely in Brazil: BRAZAVENTURE feat. Marcos Suzano (enja 2007), METAMORFLORES feat. Naná Vasconcelos/Till Brönner (enja 2009), which earned her the Echo Jazz award in 2010, and SALVADOR (Verve, Universal 2011), a tribute to Henri Salvador with both German and French-language versions.
Since 2015, she has collaborated with guitarist Lionel Loueke, who resides in New York and has roots in Benin. Together, they recorded the duo album OBSESSION (2017), which Ralf Dombrowski praised as a “fascinatingly personal and captivating song mixture” (Echo Jazz and nomination for the annual German Record Critics’ List in 2018). The duo toured seven West African countries, as well as Europe and South Korea. “This is a very unique project because there are no boundaries. I knew from the start that we are kind of from the same tribe,” says Lionel Loueke.
Following their duo album OBSESSION, Céline released the album PEARLS (2019), featuring not only Lionel Loueke but also Leo Genovese, Burniss Travis, and Jamire Williams, known from bands led by Glasper, Spalding, and others. “One of the jazz vocal records of the year without a shadow of a doubt, and the main reason for this beyond her fine voice is the quality of the compositional arc and great sweep of style at play throughout,” writes British critic Stephen Graham in Marlbank.
In addition to her duo with Lionel Loueke, Céline also performs solo, combining loops, effects, percussion, and guitar. She now employs this setup in her new project, SONIQS. SONIQS was founded together with multi-instrumentalist and sound experimenter Sebastian Merk, who has created a custom drum set combining keyboards, electronics, and video art, allowing him to operate freely and intuitively. Among his tools are dissected, sampled vocal fragments from Céline’s voice, which he processes through sound filters and rhythmically reassembles, as well as entire vocal melodies forming the basis of compositions as looped “songlines.” Despite its complexity, the music maintains a sense of lightness and playful song quality. In addition to music, Céline Rudolph also writes texts independent of music, “poems,” which SONIQS spontaneously sets to music. These poems are constantly embarked upon a sonic journey during live performances, becoming new songs in the process.
With the album AMARÉ (3 oct 2025), Céline is redefining the meeting point between Brazilian music, chamber textures, and contemporary jazz, The debut album with Henrique Gomide (piano) and João Luís Nogueira (acoustic guitar) offers a bold and lyrical vision of what Brazilian jazz can be in 2025: intimate, intuitive, and endlessly unfolding.
Henrique Gomide
Born in São Paulo in 1988, Henrique Gomide possesses a diverse musical background. He graduated in Classical Piano from ULM and Universidade de São Paulo (USP), then pursued an MA in Jazz Piano at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague (Netherlands), completing his degree in 2014 with a scholarship. In Cologne (Germany), he obtained a second master’s degree in Jazz Composition and Arrangement from the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln in 2018, specializing in Big Band Arranging.
During his educational journey, Gomide studied jazz piano under Geri Allen, Juraj Stanik, Michele Rosewoman, Oscar Perez, and classical piano with Hermes Jacchieri, José Eduardo Martins, Paulo Álvares, and David Witten, among others.
Since 2023, Gomide teaches piano at the Jazz & Pop Departament of ArtEZ Conservatory in Arnhem, the Netherlands, where he is currently based.
With his piano-trio Caixa Cubo, originating in São Paulo, he has released 7 albums and performed extensively in Brazil, France, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, England, and Mozambique. Alongside Daphne Oltheten, Gomide forms the Duo Brasis, which has recorded albums featuring works by Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, and contemporary Brazilian composers.
In 2023, Henrique Gomide released his first piano-solo CD (Portais) under Challenge Records, which has received praise from the international media.
He is also an active participant in other musical projects as a pianist, including Nau Trio, Ayça Miraç Quartet, and Juliana da Silva Band, all based in Germany. Additionally, as an arranger, Gomide leads the Henrique Gomide Big Band and has contributed arrangements for various ensembles such as Subway Jazz Orchestra (Köln), Banda Urbana (São Paulo), Big Band of the Royal Conservatory of The Hague (Netherlands), and Big Band of the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln (Germany).
During his graduate studies, Gomide focused his research on Brazilian composer and string instrument virtuoso Aníbal Augusto Sardinha, commonly known as Garoto (1915-1955). He has since been involved in numerous projects aimed at promoting Garoto’s music globally. Notably, he co-authored the Songbook Choros de Garoto (IMS - SESC Editions), featuring 67 compositions by Garoto, and served as the musical director for the documentary 'Garoto - Vivo Sonhando" (TC Filmes, Lente Viva), which premiered in September 2020. In 2016, he directed the tribute show Garoto 100 Anos at Sesc Pinheiros (Sao Paulo, Brazil), featuring prominent Brazilian musicians such as Guinga, Yamandu Costa, and Paulo Bellinati.
Throughout his career, Henrique Gomide has collaborated and recorded with renowned musicians, including Bart van Lier, Tony Lakatos, Matthias Schriefl, Toninho Horta, Nailor Proveta, Mateus Aleluia, Teco Cardoso, Vinicius Dorin, Paulo Bellinati, Toninho Carrasqueira, Monica Salmaso, Celio Barros, Marku Ribas, Gabi Guedes, John Ruocco, and Andrea di Biase, among others.
