He studied conducting at the University of Brasília and composition in Milan. He started his conducting career when he was 25 with a performance of Puccini's opera "Tosca". He also helped to bring other operas to places in the middle of the Brazilian rainforest. He directed the music in a film about the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos called "Uma Vida di Paixao" ("A Life of Passion"). In Rio de Janeiro he conducted operas which included world-famous singers such as Montserrat Caballé, Robert Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu. He also conducted choral works such as Berlioz's "L'enfant du Christ".