José Luis Castillo

The Spanish conductor and composer José Luis Castillo was born in Valencia. He began his musical studies in Spain and continued them in Salzburg, Luxembourg and Paris with Alexander Müllenbach and Manuel Galduf. With them he studied, respectively, analysis, composition and conducting, specializing in the repertoire composed in the second half of the 20^th century. Based in Mexico since 1997, Castillo was artistic director of the Guanajuato Symphony Orchestra, artistic director of the Fine Arts Chamber Orchestra and musical director of the Camerata de las Americas. He has been recognized twice by the Mexican Union of Theater and Music Critics and has received awards in Luxembourg, Netherlands and Italy. Castillo has conducted more than 70 orchestras in 25 countries and recorded 15 albums. He has collaborated with outstanding soloists such as Andras Adorján, Thomas Indermühle, Christian Lindberg, Cyprien Katsaris, Alexei Volodin, Dimitri Hvorostovsky, Irvine Arditti, Jenö Jandó, Jorge Federico Osorio, June Anderson, Leslie Howard, Veronica Villarroel, Ramón Vargas and Walter Boeykens, among others. In addition to opera, ballet, chamber and symphonic repertoire, he has an extensive catalog of silent films with live music, more than 200 world premieres and hundreds of premieres in Latin America, as well as countless first auditions of some of the most important composers of the 20^th and 21^st century. As a composer, his works have been premiered in forums and festivals of contemporary music in Argentina, Germany, Australia, Austria, Canada, Chile, Spain, United States, France, The Netherlands, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Taiwan and Uruguay by performers such as the Saarbrücken Radio Choir, Salzburg String Quartet, Delta Ensemble, Miquel Bernat, UNAM Philharmonic Orchestra, the ensembles Onyx and Oktopus, the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra, Sigma Project Quartet, Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Saarbrücken Radio Orchestra, Tambuco, Wolfgang Meyer and Konstantia Gourzi, among others. Castillo is considered a fundamental promoter of contemporary music in Latin America. In collaboration with Roberto Kolb, he works in the critical edition of the works of Silvestre Revueltas. He is professor of composition at the Superior School of Music of the National Fine Arts Institute and conductor of the Cepromusic Ensemble.