Biography

Formerly known as Alex Corrêa, Alec Orea was born in august 17th, 1981. As the son of a classical pianist, was at the age of five his first contact with the piano, but was at thirteen when he decided to follow the music path.  At seventeen, Alex began his undergraduate studies at Universidade Estadual de Londrina - Brazil, which brought him into a significant contact with many sound environments, anthropological and philosophical studies, and skills aimed at teaching music.

By the age of 25, Alec moved to São Paulo in Brazil and focused on studying the development of a contemporary language in the context of instrumental music, and as a result he recorded his first album in 2010, entitled “Sintoma” in partnership with Adauto Dias, Nenê and Arismar do Espírito Santo. Besides being a performer he also worked as a teacher compounding the faculty of the Conservatory Souza Lima in São Paulo, Brazil.

The search for new sonority and textures also resulted in the desire to do a master's degree so as to continue and share all these discoveries. Thus, in 2013, Alex was invited to attend a jazz master program in The Netherlands where one year later, he was awarded with the VNO-NCW NOORD TALENT AWARD 2014. As a result of the prize, he was invited to write and perform his original called “SoulBrothers” with the Noord Nederland Orkest.

Being in touch with musicians from different cultures has always been the focus of his attention and personal accomplishment. In 2014 he went to New York for one semester as an invitation from Queens College and since then Alex has been sharing the stage with many great musicians such as Alex Sipiagin, Flora Purim, Airto Moreira, Will Vinson, Boris Kozlov, Donald Edwards, Gene Jackson, Raul de Souza, Gabriel Grossi, Christophe Schweizer, among others.

Highlights

In 2017, Alec Orea recorded his first solo piano project (live) at Sala Maledeine in Geneva and joined the Raul de Souza quartet and quintet, touring extensively across Europe and Brazil.

In 2018, he presented his new quintet, undertaking two European and Indian tours. During the same year, he collaborated with Christoph Schweizer, Alex Sipiagin, and the Jazz Kombinat Big Band.

Also in 2018, he relocated to India for a six-month teaching residency at the Berklee Global Music Institute.

Later that year, he performed at the Jazz Kolo Festival in Kyiv alongside Igor Zakus, Maciek Kadziela, and Adam Zagorski.

In 2019, Alec was invited by Flora Purim to serve as the Musical Director for the Flora Purim and Airto Moreira Sextet, leading a significant tour across Brazil and Europe.

He also produced, arranged, and recorded Raul de Souza’s final album, Plenitude, in 2018.

In 2020, Alec recorded his first album, Concerto para Piano e Universo – 1st and 2nd Movements, featuring Alex Sipiagin, Will Vinson, Sidiel Vieira, and Rodrigo Digão Braz.

In 2022, he recorded the one2one album in duo with Christoph Schweizer in Germany, which was released in 2024 under Enja Records.

In 2023, Alec performed with the Gothenburg Jazz Orchestra in a live-recorded concert, playing and conducting his own arrangements for Big Band.

Gratitude

In 2023, Alec released his album Gratitude under the ARS Magna label. Recorded in New York, the album featured Alex Sipiagin, Boris Kozlov, and Donald Edwards, and was mixed and mastered by Beto Japa, the Latin Grammy Award-winning audio engineer from 2017.

Concerto For Piano and Universe

In January 2025, Alec released the album Concerto para Piano e Universo through the Swiss label Unit Records. This work was inspired by Alec’s experiences with diverse cultures from Brazil, Europe, India, and the United States—hence the name Universum. The album also reflects his musical upbringing, which began with classical music before evolving into the realm of jazz improvisation.