With Mosaico, vocalist Francesca Confortini and arranger Ryan Mackenzie present a richly layered exploration of Brazilian music, shaped by years of immersion, study, and collaboration. Blending samba, bossa nova, baião and MPB with a chamber-like orchestral sensibility, the album brings together Brazilian rhythmic traditions, jazz improvisation, and classical textures into a cohesive and carefully crafted whole.
In this conversation, Confortini and Mackenzie reflect on the project’s evolution from a modest idea into a large-scale recording, the balance between honoring tradition and creating something personal, and the challenges of working across cultures and musical languages. They also discuss the role of arrangement, language, and ensemble interplay, offering insight into an album that is as much about listening and respect as it is about reinterpretation.
Mosaico brings together a wide range of Brazilian styles and traditions. What was the starting point for the project, and how did it begin to take shape?
FC: Ryan and I met at conservatoire, and although we’d been in similar circles for years, we’d never actually collaborated. The idea for Mosaico came out of a conversation about our shared love for Brazilian music whilst reminiscing of our time studying, and it just felt like the right moment to finally create something side by side. What started as a small EP idea gradually grew into something much bigger, eventually becoming a full orchestral album. It’s been a really rewarding process, and we’re now very much looking forward to bringing it to a live setting!
The album moves across different rhythmic styles and arrangements. How did you approach creating a sense of coherence across the record as a whole?
FC: What you see on the record is the result of months of shortlisting of songs! Our initial list, way too long for an album, simply contained all our favourite songs from the Brazilian songbook as well as some great suggestions from other musicians who supported us in the creation of the album, including our conservatoire teacher and mentor who we had the pleasure to get involved in the creation of the album. The more the project was taking shape, the more we had to choose the right songs to create a sense of coherence throughout the album.
RM: Although we’ve included songs from various different parts of Brazil, all of the music is connected, so I didn’t feel that I had to consciously think about coherence across the arrangements. But coherence here does also come from the lineup (the chamber orchestra is present through all but the final track), the way that the instruments are used, and the dialogue between written material and improvisation. All of those elements are pretty consistent across the album.
You’ve both spent time engaging deeply with Brazilian music. What did that process of immersion actually involve in practice, and how did it shape the way you approached this repertoire?
RM: I went to Rio in 2019 for Carnival, and ended playing in blocos every day (and night) with musicians that I had met and percussion that I bought from a local music shop. I didn’t know anything about the music back then, but was shown the basics, and some of it must have been absorbed at that stage, being surrounded by it for two weeks at such an intensity. Not long after coming back from Brazil, I started my Masters at Guildhall, and one of our teachers (who we’re so lucky to have playing on the album) was an expert in world music. So every week we’d be in a room playing, and talking about what we can learn from these other cultures to apply to our own music. He also ran a samba group which both of us were part of for a few years – a load of us would gather every Sunday and play together for four hours. The group was set up to emulate a samba school in Brazil, so we probably couldn’t have gotten much closer to the real experience without actually growing up in that environment. I think that is reflected in how rooted the album is in the tradition – although we’ve combined the songs with more “western” elements to bring in our own musical personalities, those elements were never at the cost of the rhythms of samba, baião etc.
FC: I really resonate with what Ryan said. From a vocal perspective, the musicality of the Portuguese language and the phrasing in Brazilian music have been a constant thread throughout my musical journey. My great uncle, who had moved to Brazil before I was born, once came back to visit us in Italy and left me a cassette of Brazilian classics, including “Mas Que Nada”. To this day, I remember it as one of the first songs I ever learnt on my own, as I listened to that album on repeat! That sense of smooth phrasing and articulation has always stayed with me, so this project felt like the perfect opportunity to explore more deeply the intrinsic musicality of this repertoire and really immerse myself in its melodic language.
The instrumentation combines a Brazilian rhythm section, strings, and jazz horns. What led you to that particular setup, and how did you think about the role of each group within the arrangements?
RM: We debated the line-up for months – because we were working with lyrics, I wanted an ensemble that would give lots of colour, but it was important that we didn’t go so far down that route that we clouded the essence and feel of the music. The swing in particular, but also the communication of the players within the various rhythmic languages, is where the authenticity comes from, so we knew we had to have Brazilian musicians in the rhythm section. We’re so lucky to have Marcinho and Matheus, who are from Brazil but play together regularly here in London, as well as Luca, Ed and Barak, who aren’t from Brazil, but have an incredibly deep understanding of the music. The horn section is a pretty standard five-horn lineup, but with lots of doubling. Woodwinds are very common in Brazilian music, so it made sense to embrace that sound here. But having all of those doubles also made it possible for the horn section to behave both as a more traditional section (moving mostly together as one unit), as well as in more linear ways, which not only massively expanded the colour palette, but created a way in for the string quartet (which I definitely see as a very linear, contrapuntal group). It was a challenge to include strings as I didn’t want them playing “passively” behind the conversation happening at the forefront – I wanted them to be part of it. And I think that was possible here because we had such a versatile horn section, who could handle the rhythmic aspects of the music, yet easily move into a more orchestral way of playing. The strings also add a lyricism and sense of longer line, which I think really glues and shapes everything when it’s coming from inside, rather than sitting alongside everything else.
Many of the pieces are well-known within the Brazilian repertoire. How did you decide what to keep from the originals, and where to take more freedom?
FC: Given the orchestral nature of the arrangements, I felt it was important to stay close to the original melodies, allowing the wider instrumentation to come together and really let the arrangements shine. At the same time, I took some freedom in shaping the vocal line through subtle personal mannerisms and moments of improvisation, but only when I felt it would still serve the music. For this project in particular, paying homage to the original material was essential, so I was very mindful not to lose the core of the melodic line and phrasing that define these songs.
RM: A lot of these songs are standards in the repertoire, meaning that there are already so many different versions out there – this gave us a lot of freedom in the arrangements. But in any arranging project I do, where there is an original version, or one that’s particularly well-known, I try to honour it and find a way of referencing it. In Rosa Morena for example, the flute line in João Gilberto’s recording was the starting point for the shapes that accompany the melody in ours. There are a few elements in Toquino and Vinícius de Moraes’ recording of Tarde em Itapoã that I felt needed to be honoured, and the opening of Casa Forte, with the flute soloing behind, is a nod to Edu Lobo’s own version – that track actually references a few well known recordings of the song.
As non-Brazilian musicians working with this material, was there a sense of responsibility in how you approached it? Were there things you consciously chose not to change?
FC: Absolutely. Our intention was always to celebrate Brazilian music, not to turn it into something else. We wanted to be as respectful as possible to a culture that has created and shaped such a unique sound, which we simply chose to present and reimagine for our ensemble without altering its essence. We were also very lucky to collaborate with incredible musicians who not only know this repertoire deeply, but brought invaluable insight into the more intangible aspects of the music, that unspoken, unquantifiable “feel” that can only really be understood through immersion. That made the whole process even more special for us.
RM: There was indeed an enormous feeling of responsibility – we both know this music well, but are very aware that neither of us are Brazilian, so we didn’t want to release anything that wasn’t completely true and respectful. We never actually set out to make a Brazilian album, it started as a very small project, purely a vehicle for us to try something challenging and stretch ourselves. But once we got it in front of players, and of course got feedback of the people in the room, it became clear that it would be a shame not to release it. And from there, it grew and grew. The point of the exercise was always to be as faithful to the music as possible, so in terms of the elements that make it Brazilian music, I don’t think anything was really changed. We got the seal of approval from the Brazilian players, which allowed us to release it with some confidence.
Francesca, your voice moves between more intimate settings and larger ensemble textures across the album. How did you adapt your approach in those different contexts?
FC: I wanted to build a stable phrasing that could move dynamically across each piece, while still staying coherent throughout the whole album, so the vocal lines feel organic within each track, but also when you step back and listen to the record as a whole. I spent hours refining every syllable of every word! I was working with the precious help of native speakers to shape vowels and consonants: especially the nasal ones, they can be a bit of a nightmare without risking altering your sound too much. I made the decision to stay true to my natural spoken tone as ultimately, my role on the album was to tell a story and carry the narrative across all the pieces. The only way to be more relatable is to stay close to the way you would tell someone a story, and I would do it by talking to them, so that’s essentially what my focus was, whether in more intimate moments or bigger ensemble textures.
Ryan, your background spans jazz, classical, and folk traditions. How do those influences show up in your arranging on this project?
RM: The linear approach to the writing definitely comes from my classical training. That’s probably the most important thing for me in any music that I’m working on – where the lines are going (development and form), and how they’re interacting with other lines along the way (counterpoint). I spend most of my time thinking about those things, but find that once I have that, other elements pretty much fall into place. The jazz influence here is having improvising musicians as part of the ensemble, and structuring in a way that allows them freedom but also keeps everyone on the same page. I’m not sure that there’s much of a folk influence on this project, but I have been reflecting on how similar the two are – not so much musically, but how the the music is part of life, and very much a community experience.
Having spent so much time working with this repertoire, did anything about the music — or your own approach to it — change in a way you didn’t expect?
FC: Absolutely. I usually work as a session musician and often find myself in the role of the front person, so working in an orchestral environment really reshaped my role, even in a recording setup. I had a lot less freedom of movement, as the entire arrangement depended on my vocal line being delivered in a very specific way. At the same time, though, the feeling of being part of a whole, rather than carrying the music forward as the “top liner”, was a really valuable experience. In terms of the Brazilian repertoire, my pronunciation has definitely improved, but more than that, I feel like I’ve started to internalise not just a sound, but an entire musical world through such deep immersion.
RM: I didn’t realise quite how difficult it was going to be! We’ve both had connections to this music for a long time, but building new arrangements from a blank page very quickly showed me just how intricate and clever it is. So my approach was constantly changing during the arranging process, and there were many drafts and rewrites as I worked out how to bring all of the different elements and backgrounds together into one shared language, without compromising any individual piece of the puzzle.
