Jean Reis is a versatile musician known for his conducting, artistry on the violin, studio teaching, and abilities as an artistic director.

 

A frequent guest conductor in South America, North America, and Europe, he has premiered many works by composers from Brazil, the United States, Argentina, and former Yugoslavia. Among these are the premières of Arthur Barbosa’s Violin Concerto and Symphony in the United States and Brazil, as well as many string orchestra and symphonic works.

 

The maestro enjoys a reputation in Brazil as a creative organizer of festivals, orchestras, and other successful music projects. An outstanding example of his work in this area is found in the Music in the Mountains Festival, which he started in 2000. Having grown from 150 to more than 1,000 participants within three years, it was hailed as "outstanding" by Bravo magazine and listed as one of the best music festivals in South America. The total of successful Music Festivals Maestro Reis has directed until 2020 sums up to  80. 

 

Reis earned his MM degree in both Violin Performance and Orchestral Conducting at Andrews University and the University of Redlands and has had Doctoral Studies at the University of Southern Mississippi where he has served as the University's assistant conductor. Reis has enabled many talented young Brazilian musicians to continue their studies in the United States and Europe.

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As the guest conductor of the Hot Music Festival in Arkansas in 2009, he recorded the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra by Alan Shulman played by cellist Wesley Baldwin. He was also the guest conductor in 2011 for The National Music Festival in the U.S. and Espressivo Music Festival in the Republic of Montenegro.

 

He has led the Arpeggione Orchestra (Austria), the Mont Blanc Chamber Orchestra (France), the Symphonic Band of the City of Buenos Aires, the Mendoza Philharmonic Orchestra, the Northwest Florida Ballet, the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, the Sinfonia Gulf Coast, the Culture Symphony Orchestra, the Jazz Orchestra Orchestra of the State of Sao Paulo, the Campinas Symphony Orchestra, the Eleazar de Carvalho Chamber Orchestra, the University of New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and Choir, the University of North Dakota String Orchestra, the University City Symphony in Missouri, the Ho Chi Minh City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO, Vietnam), and the Opening Concert of the Premier Orchestral Institute in Jackson, Mississippi. Conducting the Symphony of the Americas, he premiered both Arthur Barbosa's Brazilian Symphony and the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra by William Bernstein Seixas at the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale. He also premiered the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra by Arthur Barbosa with the University of Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra. 

 

Reis was a violinist in several major orchestras in São Paulo, Brazil, including the Municipal Symphony Orchestra of Sao Paulo, the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra and the Jazz Orchestra of the State of Sao Paulo. While in the United States, he was a member of the Riverside Symphony Orchestra, the Riverside Opera Company Orchestra, the Redlands Symphony Orchestra, the Redlands Bowl Symphony Orchestra, the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, the Meridian Symphony Orchestra, and the Gulf Port Symphony Orchestra.

 

Has served as a violin and orchestral performance teacher at the Universidade Livre de Música and ACARTE. As part of the Paulista String Quartet, he performed in major concert halls throughout Brazil, the United States, and Europe. He served as the first violinist and assistant conductor for the musicals Chicago and Beauty and the Beast (Broadway and Disney, respectively) in Brazil’s CIE productions in Sao Paulo.

 

He is the recipient of the title of Citizen of Poços de Caldas for his contribution to the arts and culture of the city. He is the founding conductor and music director of Orchestra Versatilis. For two years he was invited by the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris to take part in the violin jury for the Concert Diploma. 

 

Maestro Jean Reis was awarded the title of Citizen of Poços Caldense for his work in culture and Commander with the Don Pedro II medal during the celebrations of 150 years of the city. He received from the Brazilian Society of Arts, Culture and Teaching the Order of Cultural Merit "Carlos Gomes" in the degree of Commander, the highest honorary distinction granted, for his merits in favor of music. He was honored with the Fiftieth Anniversary Medal of the Brazilian Peace Forces, granted by the Brazilian Association of International Peacekeeping Forces of the ONU.

 

Jean signs the artistic direction and conducts the orchestras of the festival circuit since 2000. In 2024 the circuit takes place in three Brazilian states: Festival Internacional Música na Serra (Lages-SC), FESTIMAP (Toledo-PR),  Festival Música nas Montanhas (Poços de Caldas-MG) and Festival Música no Mar de Minas (Alfenas-MG). He is founding conductor and musical director of Orquestra Versatilis, Orquestra Versatilis Filarmônica Mineira, violinist of Ensemble Versatilis, Trio Versatilis, Duo Versatilis with pianist Maria José Carrasqueira and DuoAR with pianist Flávio Augusto.