João Mascarenhas is an award-winning musician, performer, composer, arranger, teacher, music director, and music producer with over 20 years of experience in the industry. His accomplishments and talent earned him full scholarship from the Brazilian Government and the Berklee College of Music, where he received his bachelor degree in Jazz composition in 2001. In 2003 Joao was awarded another full scholarship to the University of Missouri where he received his Master's degree in music composition in 2005. Joao was also offered scholarship to study at the University of Hong Kong, where he earned his PhD in music composition in 2012.His doctorate-thesis is entitled The Learning and Creative Process in Music Composition and Improvisation. Joao was awarded the Rayson Huang Scholarship in Music in 2010 for his work Into the Music – Multimedia Étude no. 1, performed in concert accompanied by Yao Jue. In April 2011