João Esteves da Silva was born in Lisbon in 1994 into a family of musicians. He earned an undergraduate degree in General Studies from Universidade de Lisboa in 2016. He is currently a PhD candidate in the Literary Theory Program at the same institution, where he also completed his master's degree in 2019. Since 2024, he is a member of Instituto de Filosofia da Universidade do Porto.
He co-edited two issues of the journal Forma de Vida and a couple of essay volumes. He also works as a translator, primarily of philosophical texts. Alongside his philosophical studies, he is a music critic with a particular focus on 21st-century composers-performers, contributing to publications such as Bandcamp, jazz.pt, Rimas e Batidas, and The Free Jazz Collective. Still in the musical field, he curated the event Ciclo Jovens Improvisadores (2018) at O’culto da Ajuda and founded the event series Encontros de Composição Espontânea (recurring since 2024) at Casa Cheia. Additionally, he has developed a growing interest in record production.
His doctoral thesis focuses on the nature of philosophy and music criticism, as well as on key relationships between the two activities. Increasingly resistant to academic conventions, he has been exploring alternative forms of expression for his thinking.
