Dr. Jesús Castro-Balbi

Since 2003, Associate Professor of Cellojcb

 

BM - Conservatoire National Superieur, France
Artist Diploma - Indiana University
MM - Yale University
DMA - The Juilliard School

j.castro-balbi@tcu.edu 817.257.6617

Hailed as "an exceptional cellist" (Dallas Morning News), "an artist of the first rank, who commanded a huge range of volume, timbre and emotions" (Fort Worth Star Telegram), and praised for his "rich and warm tone, with lots of variety of inflection and nuance" (New York Concert Review), cellist Jesús Castro-Balbi is a dynamic presence onthe international stage. He has been featured at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Symphony Space in New York City, and in prestigious venues in China, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Korea, Latvia, Mexico, and Peru. Concerto engagements include the Leipzig MDR, Dallas, Fort Worth, Aarhus, Cannes, Aguascalientes and Xalapa Symphony Orchestras, the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra, and the National Symphony in Lima. Among other distinctions, Dr. Castro-Balbi is the winner of the Aldo Parisot Prize, the Salon de Virtuosi Award in New York, and of the First Prize at theFirst "Carlos Prieto" International Cello Competition.

Dr. Castro-Balbi is the cellist of the Lin / Castro-Balbi Duo, with pianist Gloria Lin, of the Clavier Trio, with violinist Arkady Fomin and pianist David Korevaar, and of the music project Caminos del Inka. He appears in 10 compact discs and presented premiere performances and recordings of music by such noted composers as Esteban Benzecry, Martin Blessinger, Osvaldo Golijov, Luis-Jorge Gonzalez, John Harbison, Till Meyn, Andrés Posada, Robert Rodríguez, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Edgar Valcárcel, and Samuel Zyman. Altogether, Dr. Castro-Balbi has presented 23 premiere performances, including of 10 works written for him.

A sought-after pedagogue, Dr. Castro-Balbi has conducted master-classes and lectures at Beijing's Central Conservatory, The Juilliard School, Paris Conservatory, the Leipzig Hochschule, and the Yale School of Music. Of Peruvian heritage and raised in France, he is a graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur at Lyon, Indiana University at Bloomington, Yale, and earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at The Juilliard School. He studied cello with Aldo Parisot and Janos Starker, and chamber music with members of the Amadeus, Borodine, Juilliard, Ravel and Tokyo String Quartets.

Dr. Castro-Balbi is Associate Professor of Cello at the Texas Christian University School of Music in Fort Worth, Texas, where he also serves as the founding artistic director of the Faculty & Friends Chamber Music Series, the TCU Cello Ensemble, and of the TCU CelloFest.

2012