{"id":32,"date":"2016-06-15T13:28:02","date_gmt":"2016-06-15T12:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dancosta.net\/?page_id=32"},"modified":"2026-04-12T11:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T10:48:09","slug":"bio-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.dancosta.net\/?page_id=32","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Daniel Greco Costa was born in 1989 in London (UK) to an Italian and Portuguese family. He initially studied classical piano for six years at the Acad\u00e9mie de Musique Rainier III as well as jazz and wrote his first composition at the age of twelve. In 2010, he was awarded a diploma with merit at Sir Paul McCartney\u2019s Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in the UK, but he pursued classical music studies and his strong interest in his Latin roots and jazz led him to study at the Escola Superior de M\u00fasica e Artes do Espect\u00e1culo in Portugal, where he graduated in jazz piano with a Rotary Club award for outstanding achievement in 2015. During his course, he was also awarded a merit grant to study Brazilian music at UNICAMP \u2013 Universidade Estadual de Campinas (S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil). He pursued further studies at Berklee College of Music with a celebrity scholarship for outstanding achievement.<\/p>\n

During his studies, he attended workshops and classes given by artists such as Gary Burton, Kevin Hays, Scott Colley, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Jorge Rossy, Andr\u00e9 Marques, Chick Corea and C\u00e9sar Camargo Mariano. He has co-directed musicals, performed with orchestras and big bands, and starred as both a pianist and composer in projects in countries such as the UK, France, Finland, Germany, Spain, Greece and the USA.<\/p>\n

In January 2016, he recorded his debut album Suite Tr\u00eas Rios<\/em>\u00a0in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with musicians such as Jaques Morelenbaum, Ricardo Silveira, Teco Cardoso, Rafael Barata, Marcos Suzano and Leila Pinheiro. It peaked at #1 on the iTunes Jazz Chart and Top 10 across all genres in Portugal, prior to hitting the #1 slot on the CMJ Top Adds Chart in the USA and being top 10 for several weeks on Roots Music Report. One of the best albums of the year for Down Beat Magazine, it won a silver medal at the Global Music Awards and got reviews from countries such as the USA, Russia, Canada and Brazil.<\/p>\n

In May 2018 he recorded his new album Skyness<\/em> at Arte Suono in Italy, featuring Bossa Nova icon Roberto Menescal, Jorge Helder, Teco Cardoso, Custodio Castelo, Romero Lubambo, Nelson Faria and Seamus Blake. Released at Blue Note Rio in November with Menescal and Faria, Skyness <\/em>was taken to countries such as the USA, Italy, Malta, Greece, Turkey, Brazil, Armenia, Cyprus, Portugal, Spain, Lebanon and Egypt, where he was featured by Al Arab, which considered his music a message of love and intercultural communication. He also toured India, where he was interviewed by Rolling Stone Magazine and India Today. The track “Compelling” was featured by JAZZIZ Magazine on their Summer 2019 Album. In 2020, he recorded the single Love Dance <\/em>with Ivan Lins and released his first solo piano and live album Live in California, <\/em>a critically-acclaimed effort which came in second on Roots Music Report’s Top Latin Jazz Album for 2020.<\/p>\n

In 2022 he released the single Iremia <\/em> with Randy Brecker as a message of peace. He also recorded his new album Beams <\/em> in Brooklyn, New York City, with Dave Liebman, John Patitucci, Mike Stern, Hermeto Pascoal, Dave Douglas, Teco Cardoso, Paulinho Vicente and Anne Boccato. Dan released his award-winning and critically-acclaimed album Beams<\/em> in 2023 and was featured on the cover of Brazilian keyboard magazine Teclas e Afins, while his collaboration with John Patitucci was featured by American Bass Magazine. His track Acalantando<\/em> was considered one of the best of the year by German publication S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung while Paw Prints <\/em>was used in partnership with FOUR PAWS Australia to raise awareness of animal welfare. In 2024, Beams <\/em>toured Europe, Southeast Asia, Mexico and Australasia, leading to features by Otago Daily Times (NZ), 7News (Australia), Radio Adelaide (Australia), Bangkok Post (Thailand) and others. Dan’s performances in Indonesia and Thailand also went viral on social media. His tune Encaminho <\/em>was one of the most popular jazz songs of the year for All About Jazz while the album won a gold medal at the Global Music Awards in 2024.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Dan toured the British Isles, Cuba, Tunisia and Southeastern Europe, and was interviewed by Radio Tunis cha\u00eene internationale, Jazz FM 100.8 Skopje in North Macedonia and Radio Romania. He also recorded new musical output with Ron Carter and Bob Mintzer in Manhattan, New York. In 2026, he was featured by German travel guidebook company Marco Polo series following an artistic commission related to a new issue on the republic of Georgia.<\/p>\n

Throughout his career, Dan has played at venues such as the Blue Note (Brazil), Nardis Jazz Club (Turkey), Arthur’s Jazz Club (Ireland), 38riv (France), Clarence (Spain), Casa da M\u00fasica (Portugal), Kuumbwa Jazz Center (USA), Jazzatlan (Mexico), Altrimenti (Luxembourg), PizzaExpress (UK), Blue Lamp (UK), Jazz Bar (UK), Scott’s Jazz Club (UK), Paris Cat (Australia), Jazzlab (Australia), Foundry616 (Australia), Ellington (Australia), ZWE (Austria), Prul\u010dek (Slovenia), Sarah’s Jazz Club (Cyprus), Arno Babajanyan Concert Hall (Armenia), Ulikhanyan (Armenia), Arteria (Georgia), Jazzbook (Romania), Ljubljana Castle (Slovenia), Dunedin Hall (New Zealand), Auckland Jazz & Blues Club (New Zealand) Blu Jaz (Singapore), Piano Man (India), El Sawy Culturewheel (Egypt), The Mellowship (Thailand), Sala Sudasiri Sobha (Thailand), Binh Minh (Vietnam), Apsara Theatre (Cambodia) and Museo de la M\u00fasica (Cuba). He has participated in festivals such as Polanco (Mexico), Jazz Plaza (Cuba), United Europe (Slovakia), Split Summer (Croatia) and Syros (Greece). He has also collaborated with the embassies of Portugal and Brazil, in association with the Instituto Cam\u00f5es. While touring, he has played with local musicians and interacted with traditional forms of expression, performing alongside Indian sarod, Syrian chant, Brazilian pandeiro, Portuguese guitar and Kazakh dombra, amongst others.<\/p>\n

As an educator, Dan has done masterclasses at institutions such as Royal Academy of Music (UK), Royal Northern College of Music (UK), Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (UK), Monash University (Australia), University of New South Wales (Australia), Australian National University, Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand), The University of Auckland (New Zealand), Canadian International School (Singapore), Mahidol University (Thailand) and Global Music Institute (India). Dan’s output has also been included in instructional material designed to enhance learners’ knowledge of world music rhythms. He also has a BA in philosophy (University of London, UK), an MA in English Language Teaching (University of Southampton, UK) and an MA in history (University of Birmingham, UK). He is currently doing a PhD in history at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany. He has worked as a multilingual language educator for more than a decade and has written for publications such as the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education, History: The Journal of the Historical Association (Wiley), the Journal of English as an International Language and Encyclopaedia Britannica, where he referred to tempo as “the heartbeat of expression.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n

<\/h4>\n

“He’s a wonderful player” – Ron Carter<\/h4>\n

“He shows great depth in his musicianship” – Dave Liebman<\/h4>\n

“Wonderful” – Randy Brecker<\/h4>\n

“Keep doing what you’re doing man. It’s awesome” – Mike Stern<\/h4>\n

“I like your compositions very much” – Bob Mintzer<\/h4>\n

“Realmente gostei da sua musicalidade, apuro e estilo de composi\u00e7\u00e3o. Sinto-me orgulhoso de poder colaborar nesta pitada de beleza que aqui se d\u00e1 ao mundo e \u00e0s suas pessoas” – Jaques Morelenbaum<\/h4>\n

“I really enjoyed your musicality, refinement and compositional style. I feel proud to be able to collaborate on this touch of beauty that is given to the world and its people”<\/em><\/p>\n

“Dan Costa \u00e9 um desses craques do jazz e da bossa nova espalhados pelo mundo, defendendo nossa boa m\u00fasica. Foi um grande prazer tocar com ele” – Roberto Menescal<\/h4>\n

“Dan Costa is one of those jazz and bossa nova greats all over the world, supporting our good music. It was a pleasure to play with him”<\/em><\/p>\n

“Melodic and elegant” – Seamus Blake<\/h4>\n

“Bem bonita sua m\u00fasica Dan” – Leila Pinheiro<\/h4>\n

“Beautiful Music Dan”<\/em><\/p>\n

“Uma sonoridade doce, de rara beleza, transl\u00facida, uma t\u00e9cnica fluida que nunca se imp\u00f5e \u00e0 narrativa musical … poesia t\u00e3o necess\u00e1ria para apaziguar
\nos dias turbulentos em que vivemos” – Andr\u00e9 Mehmari<\/h4>\n

“A sweet, beautiful, translucent sound of rare beauty and a technical fluidity that never hinders the musical narrative… extremely necessary poetry to calm down the turbulent days we are living”<\/em><\/p>\n

“Parab\u00e9ns pelo bom gosto nos solos de piano e composi\u00e7\u00f5es avan\u00e7adas” –\u00a0 Toninho Horta<\/h4>\n

“Congratulations for your good taste in piano soloing and for your advanced compositions”<\/em><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daniel Greco Costa was born in 1989 in London (UK) to an Italian and Portuguese family. He initially studied classical piano for six years at the Acad\u00e9mie de Musique Rainier III as well as jazz and wrote his first composition at the age of twelve. In 2010, he was awarded a diploma with merit at…
Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-32","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dancosta.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/32","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dancosta.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dancosta.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dancosta.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dancosta.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32"}],"version-history":[{"count":226,"href":"https:\/\/www.dancosta.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/32\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3665,"href":"https:\/\/www.dancosta.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/32\/revisions\/3665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dancosta.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}