Brazilian-American cellist Peyton Hall Magalhaes has a rich cultural heritage in many different musical genres. From Baroque to Bossa Nova, there are not many styles he is not willing to explore. Born and raised in Lithuania to an American mother and Brazilian father, Magalhaes was exposed to three incredibly unique cultural and musical traditions. 

Magalhaes started playing cello when he was just six years old and instantly fell in love with the sound of the instrument. He began his musical journey playing classical music but shortly thereafter branched out to different genres. One thing his classical training taught him, however, was how harmony and melodies affect and move the audience. This knowledge is just one aspect that has shaped Magalhaes to be such a sensitive player and compelling performer.

The music of Bossa Nova and Samba from Brazil are what helped develop Magalhaes strong sense of pulse and rhythm. On the other hand, his upbringing in the church is what led him to express himself through improvisation to various hymns. Funk, gospel, jazz and fiddling music have also played a significant role in shaping Magalhaes understanding of music as a whole.

Some of his most notable accomplishments are: 2008 he was awarded the Crowd Appreciation Prize of the “Young Musician - Tallinn'' competition and played for the opening of the prize-winner concert in Estonia; 2nd place in both the national "Raimundo Katiliaus'' competition in Vilnius and "IX Alexandre Glazunov Concourse International de Violon-Violoncelle-Alto" in Paris; in 2016 he was awarded 1st place in the "Gradus ad Parnassum'' competition in Kaunas and the International "Ars Lituanica'' competition in Vilnius. He was awarded a cello on loan from the "Ars Lituanica'' competition to play on for a year.  In 2017 he had the privilege of touring with the  Annie Moses Band for their Christmas tour in the U.S. In 2020 Magalhaes won the Townsend School of Music Concerto competition at Mercer and 2022 he won first place in the Bruce Ekstrand Graduate music competition at CU Boulder.

Magalhaes has participated in master classes with: Karine Georgian, Martti Rousi, Bruno Cocset, Eleonora Testelec, Joseph Hasten, Paul Watkins, Clive Greensmith, Hans Jorgen-Jensen, David Finckel, Horacio Contreras and Stephan Braun.