Paulo Bethencourt

Paulo Bethencourt (born Paulo Bethencourt da Silva Franco Neto, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is a music producer, composer, and arranger. He has created original works for labels and media companies such as Sony Music International, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, BMG, and Discovery Channel. Early life Bethencourt was raised during Brazil’s authoritarian military regime, which lasted from 1964 to 1985. His formative years were shaped by the emergence of MPB (Música Popular Brasileira), a genre rooted in Bossa Nova and known for its veiled lyrical critiques of social injustice and state repression. At the age of nine, he began studying piano under the tutelage of Ethel Sophia Galliza. Shortly thereafter, he was introduced to Jazz and Bossa Nova by his neighbor, the acclaimed saxophonist Victor Assis Brasil, who had performed with international jazz legends such as Chick Corea, Dizzy Gillespie, and Ron Carter. Encouraged by renowned classical composer and conductor Edino Krieger, Bethencourt resolved to pursue a professional career in music. In 1989, he became the first Brazilian citizen to receive a government-sponsored grant to study jazz abroad—an initiative reflecting Br