João Miguel Braga Simões was born in 1992, in Braga. He is a member of the Drumming Grupo de Percussão and the Trash Panda Collective, an ensemble he founded in Amsterdam. His professional activity has extended to solo, chamber and orchestral projects and his main focus is on the creation and interpretation of contemporary music. He regularly performs with Drumming GP, as well as in solo recitals, and performs assiduously at some of the best Dutch festivals, such as Gaudeamus, Rewire Music Festival, Sounds of Music Festival, Groningen, among others. He has increasingly inserted himself into free improvisation circuits, exploratory music and aesthetic intersections in the works developed with the Trash Panda Collective, in the participation in Omniae Large Ensemble, in the regular collaborations with the composer Igor C. Silva, in the project developed with Nuno Aroso and Ikue Mori and in the development of his solo project “Melting Music”. João participated in the creation and recording of the album Textures & Lines with Drumming GP, Joana Gama and Luís Fernandes, edited by Holuzam and considered the best national album by Oficina Radiofônica de Rui Miguel Abreu (2020). His most recent recording works are Lumina (debut album by Omniae Large Ensemble - released in 2021), Peixinho Patriarca Percussão (documentation album of the music by Jorge Peixinho and Eduardo Patriarca - released in 2021), Portuguese Marimba Quartets by Drumming GP (which will be released in the last third of 2023) and Chronotope by Anthony Pateras and Drumming GP (to be released in 2024). He recently completed his master's degree in Percussion with a specialization in “New Music” at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with the support of an artistic improvement grant from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. His academic path also passed through Braga and Porto, where he completed a degree at the Superior School of Music and Performing Arts.