Jesús Castro Balbi

Career

Cellist Jesús Castro-Balbi is a concert artist, teacher, and adjudicator on the national and international arenas. Performance highlights include features at the Lincoln Center Festival, Symphony Space and 12 appearances at Carnegie Hall in New York City, seven visits to China, concerts at Leipzig's Gewandhaus, and performances with orchestras in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the U.S., including the Aarhus Symfoniorkester, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra (Peru) in Lima, the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra, the UNAM Philharmonic Orchestras (OFUNAM), the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra and Norwegian Radio Orchestra.

To date, appears in 12 compact discs and has presented 54 world premiere performances and recordings, including of 22 works written for him by such distinguished composers as Esteban Benzecry, Martin Blessinger, Blaise Ferrandino, Robert Garwell, Till Meyn, Robert Xavier Rodríguez, Édgar Valcárcel, and Samuel Zyman. Harmonia Mundi has scheduled the 2015 release of the first recording of The Lord of the Air: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra by Jimmy Lopez with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra led by Miguel Harth-Bedoya. Castro-Balbi is the cellist of the Lin / Castro-Balbi Duo, of the music project Caminos del Inka and formerly of the Clavier Trio. Among other distinctions, he is the winner of the Aldo Parisot Prize at Yale, the Salon de Virtuosi Award in New York, and of the Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition.

Castro-Balbi is Associate Professor of Cello at the Texas Christian University School of Music in Fort Worth, Texas, where he also the founding artistic director of the TCU Cello Ensemble, the biennial TCU Cellofest, and of the Faculty & Friends Chamber Music Series, receiving the Dean's Research and Creativity Award and the College of Fine Arts Award for Distinguished Achievement as a Creative Teacher and Scholar. In addition to his work at TCU, he conducts master-classes and lectures at Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music, The Juilliard School, Paris Conservatoire, Leipzig's Hochschule, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Texas at Austin and at the Yale School of Music. He has performed and/or taught at the Aspen (Colorado), Cartagena (Colombia), Clear Creek (Oregon), Music in the Mountains (Colorado), Pyeong-Chang (South Korea), Round Top (Texas), San Miguel de Allende (Mexico), Summit (New York) and Winterfest (Latvia) music festivals. He has adjudicated for the Sphinx Competition (Michigan), and for the Aiqin Bei (China), Lutoslawski (Poland) and Carlos Prieto (Mexico) International Cello Competitions.

Castro-Balbi is a graduate of the Conservatoire de Lyon, Indiana University at Bloomington, the Yale School of Music, earning a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at The Juilliard School. He studied with Iseut Chuat, Marc Coppey, Jean Deplace, Aldo Parisot, Janos Starker, and members of the Amadeus, Borodine, Juilliard, Ravel and Tokyo String Quartets.

Family

Of Peruvian heritage, Castro-Balbi was raised in France from a young age. His father, notable classical guitarist Jesús Castro Balbi, is a professor at the Conservatoire de Lyon. His mother, Guillermina Aguilar, is also a classical guitarist and a former professor at Ėcole Nationale de Musique in Saint-Malo, France. Siblings include Maria de los Angeles Castro-Balbi (violinist in the Gulbenkian Symphony Orchestra), Arthur Soulès Aguilar (violin), Lorenzo Soulès Aguilar (1st Prize winner in the Geneva International Piano Competition) and Isabelle Castro-Balbi (piano). Other notable family members include cousins Alexandre Castro-Balbi (cello) and David Castro-Balbi (violin).

Jesús Castro-Balbi is married to Gloria Lin, who is also a faculty member at TCU School of Music. They met in 1996 at Indiana University and formed the Lin / Castro-Balbi Duo (see 'Performance' section). Castro-Balbi and Lin currently reside in Ft. Worth, TX.

Teaching

Castro-Balbi is a highly sought-after teacher, presently Associate Professor of Cello at Texas Christian University since 2003. Previous appointments include cello faculty positions at The Juilliard School Pre-College Division, the Amati Music Festival, The French-American Conservatory of Music and a teaching assistant position at The Juilliard School Lower Strings Seminar. Castro-Balbi is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Faculty & Friends Chamber Music Series, the TCU Cello Ensemble and the biennial TCU Cellofest. These organizations serve to further enrich the education of music students, providing opportunities for professional performance and creating space to observe world-class artists teach and perform. Castro-Balbi's dedication to teaching and musical outreach has resulted in many awards and recognitions from the TCU, local and international music communities. (See 'Honors and Awards' section)

Students of Castro-Balbi have gone on to have careers as prominent teachers, major symphony members and international concert artists. Notable former students include Le Gao (China), Ignacy Grzelazka (Poland), Hyung-Joo Kim (South Korea), Taide Prieto (Peru), Bo Zhang (China) and Xiaolai Zhou (China).

Outside of TCU, Mr. Castro-Balbi has had the distinction of serving as guest faculty at many prestigious festivals including Summit Music Festival (Purchase, NY), Clear Creek Music Festival (Halfway, OR), Lev Aronson Legacy (Dallas, TX), Carlos Prieto Mexican Cello Institute (Mexico), Conservatory Music in the Mountains (Durango, CO), Filarmónica Joven de Colombia (Colombia), Round Top Festival Institute (Roundtop, TX), Chamber Music Round-up (Ft. Worth, TX), Mimir Chamber Music Festival (Ft. Worth, TX), Aguascalientes Chamber Music Festival (Mexico) and San Miguel de Allende Chamber Music Festival (Mexico).

In addition, he has been invited to give masterclasses at Southern Methodist University, Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing), University of Texas at Austin, East China Normal University, California State University, Southwestern University, Tianjin University, Yale University, Boston Conservatory, Kennesaw State University, University of Cartagena, University of Colorado at Boulder, The Juilliard School, Leipzig Hochschule, Pohjois-kymen Musiikkiopisto (Finland), University of North Texas, Manhattan School of Music, Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (Paris), Conservatoire National de Région (Versailles), EAFIT University, National Conservatory (Lima), Universidad de las Américas Puebla (Mexico), Conservatorio de Las Rosas, Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music and Pyeong-Chang International Music Festival (South Korea).

Performance

An artist of world-class caliber, Castro-Balbi has performed all over the globe as a concert soloist and chamber musician. He has been featured with numerous major orchestras and has given over 50 world premiere performances. Castro-Balbi has been a member of many ensembles, most recently as the cellist in the Lin / Castro-Balbi Duo, Caminos del Inka and the Clavier Trio.

The Lin / Castro-Balbi Duo has been actively performing since 1996. A sought after ensemble, the cello/piano duo has received critical acclaim for their work throughout Asia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Members Gloria Lin and Castro-Balbi strive to promote new or little known music from composers all over the world, including works by Marlos Nobre, Esteban Benzecry, Luis Sandi, Astor Piazzolla, Blaise Ferrandino and Martin Blessinger. To date, the duo has recorded three albums and has been broadcast on international cable television as a part of the Cartagena International Music Festival.

Caminos del Inka is a multimedia project that was founded in 2007 by Miguel Harth-Bedoya. An artist of the project, Castro-Balbi has performed as a chamber musician and soloist with many different ensembles both in Ft. Worth and abroad. The project aims to explore, create and promote music from the Americas and present it to audiences in a unique way through multimedia performances. Most recently as a member of the project, Castro-Balbi was featured with the Fort Worth Symphony playing Osvaldo Golijov's "Mariel" for cello and orchestra.

The Clavier Trio was active between 2005-2013 and based in Dallas, TX. Trio members included Castro-Balbi, violinist Arkady Fomin and pianist David Korevaar. The group performed internationally including multiple appearances at Carnegie Hall and received favorable reviews from The Strad and New York Concert Review, among others. The trio was ensemble-in-residence at University of Texas at Dallas.

Honors and Awards

Discography

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