Composer, professor, and cultural manager, João Guilherme Ripper graduated and obtained his Master’s degree from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He pursued his Doctorate at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He specialized in “Économie et Financement de la Culture” at the Université Paris-Dauphine in France, and in orchestral conducting with Maestro Guillermo Scarabino in Argentina. Since 1988, Ripper has been a professor at the School of Music of UFRJ, an institution he directed between 1999 and 2003. He served as the Director of Sala Cecília Meireles in Rio de Janeiro from 2004 to 2015 and from 2019 to 2023, and as President of the Fundação Teatro Municipal da Rio de Janeiro from 2015 to 2017. Ripper is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Music, an institution founded by Villa-Lobos in 1945.

He frequently collaborates with orchestras, theaters, and festivals in Brazil and abroad, acting as a resident composer and directing his works. Among his recent compositions are Jogos Sinfônicos, commissioned by the Minas Philharmonic; Fantasia Tarumã for piano and orchestra, commissioned by the Goiás Philharmonic; Suite for Strings, commissioned by the SINOS Program; Concerto a cinco nº 2, commissioned by the Chamber Orchestra of Valdivia (Chile); Cinco poemas de Vinícius de Moraes and Variações FHC, commissioned by the OSESP Foundation, and Abertura Cartagena, commissioned by the Guarulhos Symphony Orchestra.

In February 2023, Cinco poems de Vinícius de Moraes was performed by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra at the Benaroya Hall. Pequeno concerto para Mafra for harpsichord (or piano) and strings was premiered in March. It was the first work commissioned by the National Palace of Mafra in Portugal since the 19th century. Abertura Cartagena, commissioned by the Guarulhos Symphony Orchestra, premiered in December.

Ripper wrote the libretti and music for the operas that play a central role in his catalog of works. Performances include numerous productions of Domitila since 2000 in its chamber version; Piedade at Vivo Rio (2012), Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires (2017 and 2018), Theatro Municipal de São Paulo (2018), Sala Cecília Meireles (2018), Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, and Amazonas Opera Festival (2023); Onheama, premiered and presented at Teatro Amazonas (2014 and 2015) and at the Festival Terras Sem Sombra (2016) in Portugal; Anjo Negro at the School of Visual Arts of Parque Lage (2012) and at Teatro Guaíra (2023); O Diletante at Salão Leopoldo Miguez (2014) and at Teatro Carlos Gomes in Vitória-ES (2016); Kawah Ijen at Teatro Amazonas (2018); the monodrama Cartas Portuguesas at Sala São Paulo (2020), Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon (2020), Sala Minas (2021), and Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro (2022); Domitila in the version with orchestra at the Cultural Center of Belém in Lisbon (2022); and Candinho at the Krannert Center of the University of Illinois (2023).

João Guilherme Ripper received the Associação Paulista dos Críticos de Arte award in 2000 for Domitila and, in 2017, for his body of work. In 2020, he was honored with the Innovation Award from Concerto Magazine for creating and coordinating the “Gestores em Movimento” Program, which trains musicians from all over Brazil in the management of orchestras, theaters, and concert halls.