Rio Carnival Masterclass 2027

The Samba Schools parade: Live

Four live sessions. Four Tuesday evenings. Twelve samba schools.

Every February, twelve of the world’s most extraordinary artistic productions compete on the Sambadrome runway. Each one carries a story — rooted in Brazilian history, Afro-Brazilian tradition, and the communities that build these parades across an entire year. This course gives you the tools to read those stories, and understand the rich Brazilian music and culture.

What you'll learn

To understand a samba school parade, you need to look at four things that rarely get explained together:
• The stories behind each school’s theme: the cultural, historical, and artistic references that shape every creative decision in the parade
• The structure of the parade itself: the alas, the floats, the bateria, and how all the elements work together as a competition
• The sound of each bateria: the key rhythmic characteristics that make each school’s percussion section distinct
• The results: what actually happened on the runway, analyzed in a live post-Carnival session exclusive to course participants

Course Presentation

The Lessons

The Ebook

Course Program

Lesson 1: Tuesday, 20 October – União de Maricá · Beija-Flor de Nilópolis · Paraíso do Tuiuti
Three schools whose themes span the full range of what Carnival can be: community pride, spiritual depth, and bold cultural provocation.
Lesson 2: Tuesday, 27 October – Unidos de Vila Isabel · Mocidade Independente · Unidos da Tijuca
Three schools with distinct artistic identities and histories, each bringing a different lens to Brazilian culture and memory.
Lesson 3: Tuesday, 3 November – Acadêmicos do Salgueiro · Imperatriz Leopoldinense · Portela
Three of the most storied names in Rio Carnival, each with a legacy of powerful, research-driven enredos.
Lesson 4: Tuesday, 10 November – Viradouro · Grande Rio · Estação Primeira de Mangueira
The final night of the competition — three schools known for large-scale artistic ambition and some of the most anticipated performances of the season.
Post-Carnival Session – One hour, live, after the results. We’ll go back through every school’s performance: the scores, the judges’ decisions, what worked, and what surprised us.

Before the Parade Starts: The Foundational Lesson

All participants get full access to a pre-recorded lesson on the year-round world of a samba school — one of the most popular parts of the entire Masterclass.
This lesson covers:
• The organizational structure of a samba school, the Quadra and the Barracão
• The full year-round production cycle, from theme selection to final rehearsal
• The role of the Carnavalesco
• The logistics of parade day
• A detailed breakdown of all the alas (sections) and the role each one plays
• How the parade unfolds from start to finish
• How the judging system works

It’s the foundation that makes everything you see on the Sambadrome runway make sense. Watch it at your own pace, before the live sessions begin.

What You Get

• 4 live sessions covering all 12 Special Group schools in parade order
• 1 post-Carnival session (1 hour) to analyze results and discuss the competition
• Access to the pre-recorded foundational lesson
• 100-page ebook with detailed course materials (worth €35)
• Exclusive playlists of Brazilian music connected to the themes covered in the course
• Full recording of every session — if you can’t attend live, you won’t miss anything

Course Information

All sessions start at 18:30 GMT. GMT does not change with daylight saving time — to find your local time, search “18:30 GMT in [your city]” or check worldtimebuddy.com
Please note that clocks change in some countries during the course period — always check against GMT
The course is taught in English and open to participants worldwide
Your ticket grants full access to all four sessions, the post-Carnival session, and all course materials.

The Teacher - Gabriel Lopes

Gabriel Lopes is a percussionist, researcher, and educator from Rio de Janeiro with over 25 years of professional experience. He has performed internationally with Monobloco and has been a member of samba school baterias since 2002. He has led workshops at Oxford University, the Royal College of Music, the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.

He is the author of three books on samba school baterias. Gabriel has been part of Rio’s Carnival culture for over twenty years — as a musician, a researcher, and an insider. This Masterclass is the most complete account of the samba school parades he puts together each year, and the only one available in English.

Yes! I loved every session! This was a very interesting set of lessons where the Rio carnival in general and all the differences between the famous samba schools were explained in detail and with great knowledge. This is a very nice opportunity to take a deep dive into every aspect of the Rio carnival. I would really recommend this course to every Samba Batucada lover.

This was my second year attending the course, and I continue to be impressed by Gabriel’s incredible depth and breadth of Samba knowledge. Thanks to everything I’ve learned, I feel well-prepared to watch and truly understand Rio Carnaval 2026. I deeply appreciate the detailed, behind-the-scenes insights he shares—there’s so much more to the history and culture of Samba than I ever realized, and this course brought it all to life.

Course was great at all. I love all the details you always put in. And with the themes comes together information about other styles of music, history, culture etc. Through the theme we can learn a lot about Brazil and Brazilians.

This is not just a discussion of the samba school topics, but a deep dive into brazilian culture. I loved it!

Price

€95

4 live sessions. 1 post-Carnival session. 1 pre-recorded foundational lesson. Full recordings included. Available worldwide.

Clicking this button will take you to Stripe to complete your purchase securely.

Questions about the course? Send an email to mail@sambabeats.com.br or send me an WhatsApp message and I’ll get back to you.