BRATTLEBORO-Windham World Affairs Council, a regular presenter of provocative and timely talks, offers something different for summer this Friday: a chance to experience how friendship, curiosity, and a shared love of Brazilian music created a collaboration that spans continents.
The evening at 118 Elliot in Brattleboro features “Bossa Nova Across Borders,” a performance of songs spawned in a collaboration between Vermont musician and composer Jesse Lepkoff and Vadeco Schettini of Astrolábio Studio in Curitiba, Brazil.
Joining the two will be Lepkoff’s Serenata Bossa Nova band: Alison Hale (flute), Darryl Kniffen (drums), Daniel Kasnitz (bass), and Ron Kelley (saxophone).
As a classical musician, Lepkoff has performed with both the Boston Camerata and with his own Ensemble Amphion Baroque. In another genre, he won the 2022 Vermont Blues Society Challenge and represented Vermont at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee (performing as Jesse Brody). In recent years he’s pursued the Brazilian bossa nova, a style in which he writes and performs original tunes.
Through a circuit of connections, Lepkoff traveled to Brazil in 2025 and 2026 to record with Schettini who, since 2022, a press release says, “has produced artists from both Brazil and the United States, building musical collaborations that cross cultures and languages. His work demonstrates how music can create meaningful connections across borders while honoring diverse traditions.”
Interwoven into Friday’s program will be stories and anecdotes from the recording sessions the two shared with other Brazilian musicians. It will also offer a conversation between Lepkoff and Schettini about cross-cultural collaboration, the creative process, and the universal language of music.
The Commons spoke recently via Zoom with Lepkoff in Marlboro and Schettini in Curitiba in southern Brazil, which, he says, has a rich European flavor and “a lot of little cultural communities everywhere.”
Having grown up in a family of musicians, and first playing professionally at age 16, Schettini was inspired by his father, who “loves samba and Brazilian folk music.”
Schettini’s musical frame of reference is broad as a producer and multi-intstrumentalist. Having played jazz with Lepkoff, he’s grateful for the musical sharing. “It’s a very good opportunity to learn, to share knowledge, to share influence, and for me it’s a huge pleasure doing this with a person like Jesse.” In turn, Lepkoff is grateful for all he’s learned from Schettini and his peers.
At Schettini’s studio, Lepkoff recalls, “I played some of my music, and Vadeco was very receptive, encouraging,” and responsive to the idea of collaborating.
“The energy and the connection between us was very, very fast,” Schettini recalls. “When I heard his song, I told him, ‘Man, it’s incredible: For us Brazilian people to think about someone so far away doing music like us, you know, with this kind of harmonical characters, rhythm characters — it was so great, so great.”
At first in Brazil, Lepkoff recalls, “I was shy about my music,” assuming that “I’m going to go there and play my songs, and they’ll say, ‘Who is this gringo trying to play our music?’ And it was the exact opposite: It was like, ‘What, you play our music? You sound so good, come on man — play.’”
He said his audiences were “110% encouraging, enthusiastic, and welcoming. That sums up my experience with all the Brazilian people.”
Several times, in bars and other public places, Lepkoff was nudged to play his bossa nova compositions.
“The culture is different, it’s very spontaneous. You know, anything can happen,” he says, in contrast to the U.S., where he notes there’s often competitiveness among musicians.
Lepkoff explains that Schettini arranged for musicians “he knows to come and play [his compositions].”
“I wrote many of the lines they should play, particularly the bass, the flute, and the percussion,” Lepkoff says, noting that “the amazing thing for me was that they heard this music and they knew what it was. The flute’s improvised; the percussion and the bass were adding all these things that were just right.”
And, he says, “it was immediately fantastic.”
“The inspiration and the excitement was amazing,” Lepkoff adds, as were the times he and Schettini composed and arranged together at the piano.
“It was the best collaboration I’ve ever had,” Lepkoff says. “We were on the same wave length; it was magical.”
Schettini nods. “It was magical,” he says. “Beautiful.”
He’ll be sharing a visual presentation he’s made to introduce Brazil to a local audience and to discuss the process and their joint experience.
“I would like to show the people our journey in this,” Schettini says.
Among the tunes to be played will be Lepkoff’s newest recordings, including “Um Lindo Dia,” (“A Beautiful Day”), a signature track from his 2025 album, Bosso Do Norte.
All made in Brazil, the songs blend Brazilian rhythms with American songwriting traditions. Schettini will sing and play percussion; Lepkoff will sing and play guitar accompanied by his band.
Bossa Nova across Borders happens on Friday, July 17, at 118 Elliot in Brattleboro. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.; the event begins at 7 p.m. Admission is free, with donations appreciated. For more information, visit windhamworldaffairscouncil.org.
This Arts item by Annie Landenberger was written for The Commons.