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Ricardo Figueira studied saxophone at the “Vicente Ascone” Municipal School of Music in Montevideo and later at the University School of Music of the University of the Republic. His principal teachers included Jorge Bingert, Santiago Gutiérrez, Edgardo D’Andrea, and Esteban Falconi. He continued his training in Buenos Aires with Hugo Pierre and María Noel Luzardo, and later studied with Frido ter Beek (Netherlands) and Miguel Villafruela (Chile). He has also participated in masterclasses with internationally renowned artists such as Preston Duncan (USA), Anna Wytko (USA), Marie-Bernadette Charrier (France), and Carl-Emmanuel Fisbach (France), among others.
Since 2009, Figueira has been a member of the Montevideo Symphony Band. As a soloist, he has appeared with the Montevideo Symphony Orchestra on several occasions, and has also performed with the Concert Band of Heredia (Costa Rica), as well as the municipal and symphonic bands of Paysandú, Río Negro, San José, Canelones (Uruguay), Santa Cruz (Argentina), and others. He currently serves as Professor of Saxophone at the University School of Music of the University of the Republic.
In 2016, he was awarded the Vicente Ascone Prize in the 75th Anniversary Competition of the “Vicente Ascone” School of Music, which led to a solo performance with the Montevideo Symphony. As a founding member of the saxophone quartet SP4, he has performed at numerous national and international festivals.
Together with pianist Mariana Airaudo, Figueira forms the duo Nómade, dedicated to collaborating with Uruguayan composers in the creation of original repertoire for saxophone and piano. The duo has performed across Uruguay and internationally at festivals in Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, and Brazil.
In 2019, Figueira collaborated with the Uruguayan Association of Musicians in organizing the Latin American Congress of Saxophone, and since 2023 he has been an active member of the Latin American Saxophone Association (Alasax). He is a Yanagisawa and Bambú performing artist in Uruguay.