Miguel Castro

Biography

Miguel Castro began his musical studies at the age of ten at the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela in the city of Puerto Ordaz. Then, he began his piano studies with Professor Armando Navas Luque. At 12 years old, he performed his first public piano recital. He has performed recitals in Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, and the United States. His musical education has been conducted by Professors Leopoldo Igarza, José Luis Presa, María Luisa Padrón and Gerardo Gerulewicz; and his piano education has been taught by Gioconda Vásquez, David Ascanio and Igor Lavrov. Miguel Castro graduated from “José Ángel Lamas” Superior School of Music, achieving with honors the title of Piano Performer. He studied his Master’s in Music, with an emphasis in Piano Performance, at Simón Bolívar University under the tutelage of Russian pianist Igor Lavrov. 

He has attended masterclasses taught by Héctor Villasana, Claudio Carbó Montaner, Guíomar Narváez, Guadalupe Parrondo, Doménico Lombardi, Maura Pansini, Franco Medori, Alexandre Dossin, Vivian Weilerstein and Michael Gurt. In July 2011, he won the 1st Prize in the “III Rosario Marciano National Competition” (Venezuela). In November of that year, he received the Student Merit Award granted by the Central University of Venezuela in the Artistic-Cultural Mention. Moreover, he has performed as a soloist with the Symphonic Orchestra of Paraguaná, the Symphonic Orchestra of Barinas, the Symphonic Orchestra of Falcón, and the Youth Symphonic Orchestra Inocente Carreño. In December 2017, he participated in the IV Federico Chopin Competition in Lima-Peru. In January 2019, he participated in the XIV Santa Catarina International Festival in Jaraguá do Sul, Brazil. 

He worked as a collaborative pianist in the Fedora Alemán Voice Studio conducted by Professor Lotty Ipinza. He was the titular pianist of the Youth Symphonic Band Simón Bolívar during the years 2014-2015. He obtained a Certificate in Orchestral Conducting by the Faculty of Humanities and Education at the Central University of Venezuela in 2015, under the tutelage of Master Miguel Ángel Monroy and Juan Francisco Sans. He was the collaborative pianist in the Orchestral Conducting Studio of Maestro Alfredo Rugeles at Simón Bolívar University. He worked as a piano teacher in the "Manuel Alberto Lopez" School of Music, and he had his own Piano studio in the “Juan Manuel Olivares” National Conservatory of Music (Venezuela). He lived in Lima for one year and a half. He worked there as a Piano Teacher in the Extension Courses at the National Conservatory of Music of Peru during the years 2018 and 2019. Then, he moved to the United States after obtaining an assistantship at Ohio University. He served as a Graduate Assistant of the Keyboard Division at OU from 2019 to 2021. He got his Master’s degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy under the guidance of Dr. Emely Phelps and Dr. Christopher Fisher at Ohio University (Athens, USA). He is currently a piano teacher at Yee Music Studio in Baton Rouge (Louisiana, USA).