Álvaro Kapaz was born in São Paulo, Brazil. After five years of studying piano, at the age of 13 he traded the keys for a more "rock & roll" instrument and began taking guitar lessons at a neighborhood music school. At the time, nothing could compete with Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and the other classics he was discovering, and he quickly immersed himself in Rock and Blues, with a strong and lasting Heavy Metal influence.

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After years of high-school bands, rehearsals and jam sessions, Álvaro began studying Economics in 2000, graduating Cum Laude from IBMEC in 2004. He went straight into the financial world, gaining an understanding of business that would later become an important part of his career. Music, however, never stopped. Throughout those years he continued playing in bands and developing his own musical voice, gradually combining his Rock and Blues roots with a growing interest in Jazz and Funk.

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In 2006, Álvaro decided to leave finance behind and dedicate his life to music, moving to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music. He graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2010 with three majors — Music Business, Film Scoring and Pro Music/Performance — and was awarded the Berklee Achievement Scholarship in recognition of his performance and outstanding involvement with the school.

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His years at Berklee were defined by constant collaboration, recording sessions and performing with musicians from around the world. After graduating, Álvaro moved to New York City, where he built a career as a guitarist, producer and freelance musician, working extensively with independent artists and participating in recording projects across the United States. His production and recording work from this period includes projects with Alicia Lemke, Darra, Stone Mountain Station, Alternative Facts, Dennis Cahlo & The Change, On Impulse, Marley Munroe, Charley Row, Model Citizen and Crane Kick, among others. His work took him into studios in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Hartford and Maine.

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Alongside his work as a sideman and producer, Álvaro created Project K-Paz, an experimental project centered around improvisation and spontaneous music, recording four albums with an ever-changing group of musicians — including sessions at New York's legendary Avatar Studios. His musical identity during these years reflected the diversity of his influences, ranging from Jimi Hendrix, Joe Perry, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Slash to John Scofield, Scott Henderson, Joe Pass, Tuck Andress and Steve Vai.

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In 2010, Álvaro also became Artistic Director of the St. Barth Summer Sessions alongside his partner Tom Howie, marking an important expansion of his work beyond performing and recording and into the business side of the international music industry. The project led to further work in international booking, musical direction, production and artist development.

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After more than three years in New York, Álvaro returned to his native São Paulo in 2014. There, he established himself as a freelance guitarist and producer while increasingly focusing on music education and entrepreneurship. In partnership with Companhia das Cordas, he created a Berklee preparatory program that helped dozens of young Brazilian musicians prepare for and pursue their studies at Berklee College of Music.

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He later became a founding partner of Editora Passarim, which secured the exclusive Portuguese-language translation rights to the Berklee Press catalog, bringing some of the world's leading music education material to Portuguese-speaking students. In 2019, he co-founded Associação Cultural Lapidar and its Diamantes Musicais project, created to provide musical education, mentorship and financial support to talented young musicians from underprivileged communities, helping them pursue higher education in music in Brazil and abroad.

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During the pandemic, Álvaro joined Manchester-based record label Scruff of the Neck to create and develop its international operation. He helped establish the company's presence across seven countries — Brazil, Mexico, the United States, Japan, Australia, Germany and the Netherlands — bringing its artists and catalog to new markets around the world. As soon as lockdown was over and live music returned, Álvaro took on the role of manager and producer for Brazilian folk group Santa Jam Vó Alberta, helping the band expand its reach through international touring, the release of its first LP, and the creation of its own music festival. This new chapter also marked a broader expansion of his career beyond performing and producing, increasingly bringing together music, entrepreneurship, cultural production and creative direction.​

 

In 2023, Álvaro co-founded Macuka Cultural, a São Paulo-based cultural production company responsible for the conception, curation, management and production of a growing range of cultural events throughout the city. He also became a partner at Cooka Music, where he works as Creative Director, Composer and Producer, specializing in sound branding and original music for audiovisual projects, while also overseeing the company's commercial, administrative and financial operations.​

 

More recently, Álvaro has expanded his work into two new areas closely connected to his lifelong passion for music. As partner and curator of a Private Musical Instrument Collection, he currently oversees dozens of instruments, working with their research, acquisition, authentication, preservation, valuation and positioning within the international vintage instrument market. At the same time, he has begun developing and curating exclusive international music experiences, using the network he has built throughout his career to provide unique access to artists, recording studios, manufacturers, venues and other corners of the music industry in cities such as London and New York.​

 

More than twenty years after leaving the financial world — and nearly two decades after moving to Boston to pursue music professionally — Álvaro's career has evolved into an unusual combination of guitarist, producer, entrepreneur and curator, connecting the artistic and business sides of music across Brazil, the United States and Europe.

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And the best is yet to come...