Born in Lousada, Portugal, João Xavier started his musical studies at the Vale do Sousa Conservatory in this town, where he finished, in 2011, the undergraduate course under professor Luísa Ferreira.
He pursued further studies at Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espectáculo (ESMAE), in Porto, with pianist Pedro Burmester, and has also worked with pianist Tania Achot.
In 2011, he was admitted to the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Florence, Italy, where he studied under Eliso Virsaladze. He continued his studies with her at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, graduating in 2020 with distinction.
In 2023, he obtained a master’s degree at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel, where he studied with Aleksandar Madžar.
He was awarded several prizes in national competitions, such as the 1st prize at the 5th Póvoa de Varzim Piano Competition; the 1st prize at the 10th Florinda Santos Piano Competition and the 1st prize at the 12th Santa Cecília Piano Competition.
In 2011, at the age of 17, he was awarded the 1st prize at Prémio Jovens Músicos (Young Musicians Prize), having performed Prokofiev’s third Piano Concerto with the Gulbenkian Orchestra, in Lisbon, and received, in 2014, the 3rd prize at the Jaén International Piano Competition (Spain). In 2021, he has been awarded the 1st prize at the Estoril Festival Competition, in Lisbon.
João has performed solo recitals and concerts with orchestra in several cities of Portugal, Spain, Italy and Russia and Belgium, in such venues as the Sala Suggia, at casa da Música, Porto; the Big Hall of the Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon; Teatros del Canal, Madrid; Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon; Small, Rachmaninov and Great Halls of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
He has played as a soloist with several orchestras, such as the Porto Symphony Orchestra “Casa da Música”, the Gulbenkian Orchestra, the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra, the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, the Granada City Orchestra, Filarmonia das Beiras, and Cascais and Oeiras Chamber Orchestra, and collaborated with such conductors as Pedro Neves, Günther Neuhold, Nikolay Lalov, Anatoly Levin, Martin André and Vasily Sinaisky.