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Luiz de Moura Castro

Luiz de Moura Castro was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he received his early training and graduated Summa cum Laude from the National School of Music. He continued his studies at the Liszt Academy of Budapest. De Moura Castro made his debut recital in the Teatro Municipal, Rio di Janeiro at the age of nine after winning a competition. He has appeared with the Orchestre de Chambre, Lausanne, Lisbon Radio Orchestra, Filarmonichi di Turino, Bratislava & Janacek Orchestras, Yaroslav Symphony, Russia, Dallas, Fort Worth, Hartford and Syracuse Symphonies, in addition to all the major orchestras in Brazil.

He has given recitals at the following places, among others: Piccola Scala, Milano; Teatro Ghione, Roma; Salle Gaveau, Paris; Palau de la Musica, Barcelona; Salle du Conservatorire, Studio Ansermet, Geneva; Festival Pianistico, Bergamo/Brescia; Merkin Hall, Metropolitan Museum, New York; Sala Cecilia Meireles, Teatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro.

Invited by Lili Kraus to teach at Texas Christian University, he has lived in the United Staes for more than twenty-five years. He is currently on the full-time faculty of The Hartt School of Music at The University of Hartford and is head of the Piano Department at the Juan Pedro Carrero School of Music, Barcelona. This season he began a visiting professorship at The Catholic University, Washington, D.C. Featured in Benjamin Saver's The Most Wanted Piano Teachers in the U.S.A., he has been invited as one of the master teachers and lecturers for the World Piano Pedagogy Conferences (Chicago, Philadelphia Fort Worth). His discography includes 20 CDs for Ensayo (Spain), Euterpe (Switzerland), L'Art (Brazil), and Musical Heritage (U.S.A.).

de Moura Castro's recent debut in Holland received wonderful reviews: "The combination of Villa-Lobos' rhythmic fireworks and passionate melodic lines are right up his alley -- a marvel to hear."

(Gooi en Eemlander 5/19/98)

In Spain, the review of his March concert in Ourense called him:
"Master of masters -- how he interpreted Bach! On stage, yes, you would see somebody playing the piano, but you heard the organ. That's what distinguishes the master of masters, the complete control of sonorities and colours that you can extract from teh instrument with technique, heart, and thought: in Villa-Lobos, the piano was almost dancing the Samba!"

(La Region 3/30/98)

During the summer of 1998, de Moura Castro taught and gave recitals in courses and festivals in Connecticut (Hartt School), Rio de Janeiro, Cava de'Tirreni (Italy), Alta Ribagorza (Spain), Kromerich (Czech Republic), Obidos (Portugal), and Shandalee, New York (U.S.A.). He appeared on the cover of the June 1998 issue of Amadeus, the most important music magazine of Spain with an extensive four page interview, on the occasion of the release of his three compact series of Latin American music (Brasil Piano, Argentine Piano, Cuba Piano) under the Spanish lablel, Ensayo.

Engagements for the 1998/99 season included four recording contracts with Ensayo and L'Art labels, concerts in Dallas, Festival Liszt, Rio di Janeiro (Liszt 1st Concerto with the National Symphony), Carbondal, IL (Beethoven Festival), Las Palmas (Majorca), Franz Liszt Festival at The Ravello Festival of Italy, Curitiba (Brazil), Liszt 2nd Concerto (Rio de Janeiro), La Coruna (Galicia), and return engagements in St. Louis, Caracas (Venezuela), where he made his debut last season.