Stephen Guerra is a guitarist, composer, and music theorist specializing in Brazilian choro. His current work studies tonality in Brazilian choro through emic theory, embodied practice, and history. His prior work studied rhythm and meter in samba, particularly the music of late Afro-Brazilian guitarist Baden Powell.

• PhD, Yale University
• MA and MPhil, Yale University
• BM, Temple University
• BAS, University of Pennsylvania

• UMass Amherst, 2021
• Northern Arizona University, 2019–2020
• Rutgers University, 2018

“Toward a Theory of Structuring Rhythm in Improvisation in Timeline-Based Musics.” MusMat: Brazilian Journal of Music and Mathematics 3: 44–60, 2019, https://musmat.org/en/07-guerra/

“Hemiolic Metric Space in Afro-Diasporic Popular Musics.” Journal of Music Theory 63: 231–260, 2019, https://read.dukeupress.edu/journal-of-music-theory/article-abstract/63/2/231/143975/Hemiolic-Metric-Space-in-Afro-Diasporic-Popular?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Suíte Rio de Janeiro: Three Original Choros for Classical Guitar, Guitar Chamber Music Press (2022), https://www.guitarchambermusicpress.com/product/suite-rio-de-janeiro/

10 Brazilian Choros Arranged for Classical Guitar Solo, Mel Bay (2021), https://www.melbay.com/Products/30976M/10-brazilian-choros-arranged-for-classical-guitar-solo.aspx

No Balanço do Choro-Samba (2023), Stephen Guerra: https://stephenguerra.bandcamp.com/album/no-balan-o-do-choro-samba

• Review: “This is great fun… [] Guerra has nice melodic ideas and with his collaborators finds a nice groove for each piece.” Soundboard, Guitar Foundation of America, 2024

Choro in the Time of Bossa Nova (2020), Duo Guerra/Morrow: https://duoguerramorrow.bandcamp.com/album/choro-in-the-time-of-bossa-nova