Federico Garcia-De Castro has lived in the US since 2001, when he moved from Bogotá to pursue graduate studies in composition at the University of Pittsburgh. An award-winning composer, his music is programmed regularly in concerts and festivals around the world, and has been performed in ten countries from his native Colombia to as far away as Thailand and Australia.
In 2019 he appeared as guest conductor with the National Symphony of Panama, with Stravinsky's Firebird Suite and the premiere of his Concerto for Percussion (with percussionist Carlos Camacho. Among other festivals, he has been featured composer at the 2015 MusicArte Festival in Panama and the 2014 Thailand International Composition Festival, among others.
Garcia-De Castro is cofounder and Artistic Director of Alia Musica Pittsburgh, and in that capacity he has produced and conducted thirteen seasons of music by living composers and classics of modern music, from Ives and Varèse to Berio and Haas. He has also directed three editions of the Pittsburgh Festival of New Music in 2014, 2016, and 2018.
+ Extended bio
Federico Garcia-De Castro has lived in the US since 2001, when he moved from his native Colombia to pursue graduate studies in composition at the University of Pittsburgh. His music is programmed regularly in concerts and festivals around the world, and has been performed in ten countries, most recently in Australia, Italy, and Austria. He was featured composer at the 2015 MusicArte Festival in Panama, the 2014 Thailand International Composition Festival, and the 2010 Dallas Festival of New Music, among others.
Named one of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s “10 people to meet in 2016”, in the 2015-16 season he was awarded an individual artist grants from The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments, and was commissioned by Ensemble Dal Niente, for whose Latin American tour he wrote Memoria (homage to Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa). In 2014 he was opening artist for the Community Supported Art at the New Hazlett Theater in Pittsburgh, as well as a fellow in Panama’s Conexión Drácula residency. In November of 2016, on the occasion of a decade of professional activity, Pittsburgh-based ensemble NAT 28 devoted a program to a retrospective of his music.
Founder and Artistic Director of Alia Musica Pittsburgh (2007–2016), Garcia-De Castro has produced and conducted nine seasons of music by living composers and classics of modern music from Ives and Varèse to Berio and Haas. He created and has directed the Pittsburgh Festival of New Music in 2014 and 2016, featuring soloists of the stature of Tony Arnold and Frederic Rzewski, performances of John Luther Adam’s Inuksuit, Cornelius Cardew’s The Great Learning, and marathon concerts with local and visiting new music artists. His collaborations include premieres by composers of such stature as Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, and Ken Ueno, as well as performances with Tony Arnold, Cliff Colnot, and Robert Dick.
In 2016, Garcia-De Castro has been accepted to artist residencies at the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. Current commissions include a percussion concerto for Panamanian percussionist Carlos Camacho, and works for Quince Vocal Ensemble. His music has been commercially recorded by soloists Guillermo Bocanegra (guitar), Kate Dillingham (cello), the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, and Colombia's Ensamble CG.
+ Contact
federook at Gmail
412.427.6717
