|
The Costa Rican pianist and opera coach, Gustavo Castro (Luis Gustavo Castro-Ramirez), obtained his Diplome Superieur de Musique de Chambre from Conservatoire National de Region de Strasbourg (1980-1988); his Deuxieme Medaille de Piano from Conservatoire National de Region de Strasbourg (1988); his Master of Music degree in Piano Performance from the Universidad de Costa Rica (1998-2004); his Master of Music degree in Opera Production, Coaching Emphasis from Florida State University (2005-2007); his Master of Music degree in Piano Accompanying, Instrumental Emphasis from Florida State University (2007-2009); his Doctorate of Musical Arts (DMA) degree in Music Perfomance, Opera Coaching Emphasis from the University of Texas at Austin (2009-2012), Doctoral document: The Impact of Bizet's Carmen within the Development of Spanish Thought-Sung Opera.
Gustavo Castro has collaborated in productions with opera companies and programs such as Astoria Music Festival (Oregon, June 2014-June 2016), Butler Opera Center (Texas, August 2009-December 2012), Cascadia Chamber Opera (Oregon), Costa Rica National Lyric Company (Costa Rica), Florida State Opera (Florida), Eugene Opera (Oregon, January-March 2013; January 2016), Opera Bend (Oregon, May-June 2014), and Opera Nova Costa Rica (Oregon/Costa Rica, since January 2000). He has served as opera conductor, assistant conductor, chorus master, rehearsal pianist, continuo player, and orchestra pianist in about 50 different operatic productions.
As a collaborative pianist, Gustavo Castro has performed a vast repertoire with singers and instrumentalists that includes works from the baroque to the contemporary musical periods. This activity has taken him to perform recitals in Costa Rica, El Salvador, France, Nicaragua, and the USA. Since 1995 he performs regularly in a duet with his wife, American contralto Dr. Karen Esquivel. One of their main interests is to expose the audience to the little known, yet exquisite, Spanish lyric repertoire.
For the music is an international language, and within this idea, vocal music amalgamates his love for cultures, languages and music. In 2010, along with his wife, Gustavo Castro created the Opera Nova Costa Rica international summer training program that takes place in Costa Rica every other year during the month of July. The purpose of this program is to provide an operatic cultural exchange to young opera singers from Costa Rica and the United States. During three weeks the students live in local Costa Rican households. They receive voice lessons, musical coachings, participate in master classes, and put together two performances: a program of opera arias or scenes, and a fully staged opera, all in their original language.
As an active member of the National Opera Association (NOA), Gustavo Castro has presented, alongside with Dr. Esquivel, the lectures “La ópera española: An Introduction to the Hidden Jewels of Spanish Through-Sung Opera” – 2012 –, and “No Fear French Baroque Opera (or Is Adultery, Passion and Murder still Relevant?)” – 2018 –. In 2012 he won the NOA Twenty-eighth Scholarly Papers Competition for outstanding scholarly papers on operatic subjects. His article “Spanish Operatic Identity vis-à-vis Bizet’s Carmen” was published in The Opera Journal in June 2013.
Gustavo Castro has served and taught as Piano Instructor at Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica (June 1988-Jun 1993); Staff Accompanist/Piano Instructor at Universidad de Costa Rica (1989-2004); Opera Coach at Florida State University (January 2005-June 2007); Opera Coach & Music DirectorOpera Coach & Music Director at University of Oregon School of Music and Dance (January 2012-June 2018); Collaborative Pianist / Vocal Coach at University of Central Missouri (August 2013-May 2014); In the past Gustavo Castro has taught at the University of Oregon (2014-2018). Since July 2018, he serves as Vocal Coach and Collaborative Pianist at the University of Idaho. |
