Iris Artist Fellowship

The Iris Artist Fellowship is a program for rising professional musicians with a passion for engaging music as a tool for social impact while growing in their own artistry.

The Iris Artist Fellowship is a program for rising professional musicians with a passion for engaging music as a tool for social impact while growing in their own artistry. The fellowship is directed toward Black, African American and Latinx artists in classical music.

Iris Artist Fellows perform throughout the Iris Collective season and benefit from the opportunity to build their professional network within a community of skilled instrumentalists with nationwide connections. Between concert events, Fellows focus on chamber music, education, youth development, community-building projects, and collaborations.

The program is designed to provide experiential opportunities in several aspects of a professional music career: including performance, teaching artistry, and community involvement. Iris Artist Fellows bring positive change to schools and other organizations in underserved communities by participating in community engagement programs that focus on social and emotional learning through music, mentorship, inspiration, and social equity.

2024-2025 Iris Artist Fellows

Alexandre Negrão

Originally from Belem do Pará, Alexandre started his violin studies when he was 7 years old at the Fundação Amazônica de Música. Alexandre is a former member of the Theatro da Paz Symphony Orchestra and has served as acting concertmaster from 2014 to 2016.

Alexandre has studied in a special international string program in Southern Louisiana at Nicholls State University under the direction of Prof. James Alexander in Fall 2016. After completing the program, Alexandre auditioned and was admitted with full scholarship for his undergraduate studies at the University of Missouri - School of Music. He has graduated with master's in music degree in violin performance in the class of Professor Eva Szekely this August 2025 and was the violin chair for the New Music Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Stefan Freund.

Alexandre has served as concertmaster of the MU Philharmonic, string coach and assistant conductor with the Mid-Missouri Community Orchestra and he has kept a leading role with the Columbia Civic Orchestra as well as Missouri Symphony. Alexandre has been a teacher in the University of Missouri School of Music, and Community Outreach program, and co-founded the MU Camerata, an elite student run chamber ensemble. Alexandre was winner of the Mid-Missouri Teaching Association at the Collegiate Honors level in 2019, 2022-24, and MU School of Music Concerto Competition in spring 2021. During the summer of 2024 Alexandre was awarded Assistantships to go study at the Aspen Music Festival under the class of Prof. David Halen. And during summer 2023 and 2025, Alexandre traveled on tours through South America with the New Music Ensemble playing music predominantly by composers from the Americas.

Currently he dedicates his time to discover and perform music from underrepresented composers from Brazil and the USA. He likes to collaborate and premier new works and advocate to the new music cause. While teaching and guiding young musicians in the community, Alexandre help students to find their on paths in music and in life.

Roberta dos Santos

Roberta dos Santos is an avid chamber musician and advocate for contemporary music. A Brazilian cellist, Roberta collaborates with some of the most diverse and renowned composers to elevate underrepresented voices in the music scene, both in Brazil and internationally.

From 2014 to 2016, Roberta performed with the Paraiba Symphony Orchestra, participating in significant projects such as recording a special DVD with Brazilian singer Zé Ramalho. Since 2021, she has been a member of The Jackson Symphony and frequently performs across Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

In 2023, Roberta took part in The Jackson Symphony’s “Symphony on the Move,” which takes concerts directly to underrepresented audiences throughout West Tennessee. The National Endowment for the Arts recognized the cultural impact of the tour by awarding The Jackson Symphony its prestigious Challenge America grant in 2022.

As an educator, Roberta has dedicated over a decade to teaching at Associação Músicos do Futuro in Taboão da Serra, her alma mater. She is a Suzuki-certified instructor, trained under Dr. Tanya Carey, and she has mentored students at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Civic Youth Ensembles.

Roberta continues to influence the next generation of musicians through collaborations with the Memphis Youth Symphony Program, PRIZM Ensemble, and other initiatives, while also maintaining a private studio in the U.S. and Brazil.

Roberta is a doctoral candidate in cello performance at the University of Memphis, where she also serves as a teaching assistant. Her doctoral research explores themes of social justice and race within Brazilian classical music.

Roberta earned her bachelor’s degree from Faculdade Cantareira in São Paulo, Brazil, her master’s degrees from the Federal University of Paraíba and Bowling Green State University, and an Artist Diploma from Nicholls State University.

Her principal mentors include Ji Yon Shim Anderson, Felipe Avellar de Aquino, Dennis Parker, Brian Snow, and Kimberly Patterson.