Born in Lisbon, João Vaz graduated in organ from the Escola Superior de Música in Lisbon, studying with Antoine Sibertin-Blanc, and from the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón, in Zaragoza, where he studied with José Luis González Uriol on a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. He holds a doctorate in music and musicology from the University of Évora, where his thesis, on Portuguese organ music from the end of the Ancien Régime was supervised by Rui Vieira Nery. Recognised as one of the leading organists in Portugal (particularly in the field of early music), he has been extremely active internationally, both as a performer and as a teacher on organ courses, and as a jury member in competitions. He has made more than a dozen of solo recordings, significant among them those made on Portuguese historic organs. As performer and musicologist, João Vaz has paid particular attention to Portuguese sacred music, producing many articles and musical editions and founding in 2006 the ensemble Capella Patriarchal, which he directs. He currently teaches organ at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa. He is artistic director of the Madeira Organ Festival and of the concert series featuring the six organs of the Basilica of the National Palace of Mafra (for the restoration of which he was a permanent consultant) and of the historical organ of the Church of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon, of which he became titular organist in 1997. In 2017 he was awarded the Medalha de Honra of the Municipality of Mafra.