Esteban Castro Solo Piano

Esteban Castro is a 21-year-old pianist and composer who performs internationally with his own band and as an in-demand sideman. During his time in New York, he has worked with many inspiring artists, such as Ambrose Akinmusire, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Harish Raghavan, Peter Evans, Gilad Hekselman, Billy Drummond, Joe Farnsworth, Giveton Gelin, Ben Solomon, Mark Shim, Francesco Cafiso, Mark Whitfield, and Ted Nash, among others. As a leader and a sideman, he has performed at venues such as The Blue Note, The Montreux Jazz Festival, Birdland, Birdland Theater, Dizzys Club Coca-Cola, The New Jersey Performing Arts Center, The Jazz Gallery, and Smalls. He has also had the opportunity to perform abroad in Switzerland, Italy, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Mexico, France, Spain, Canada, and the Bahamas. Esteban is currently a senior at the Juilliard School on a full scholarship. Esteban started playing the piano at age 4, and quickly found himself improvising at a very young age, which led to the beginning of his jazz journey at age 6. At age 13, Esteban was the First Prize Winner in the Montreux Jazz Piano Solo Competition in 2016, making him the youngest ever to receive this prestigious award. Then, at 14, he was the youngest First Prize recipient at the 2017 Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition. He entered various high school programs such as the Grammy Band in 2017 and 2018, the 2019 Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, and was selected as a 2019 YoungArts Finalist. He also won a variety of classical piano competitions, including the 2019 MSM Precollege Philharmonic Concerto Competition, playing Prokofievs 1st Piano Concerto. After graduating from high school, Esteban was selected as a finalist for the 2023 American Pianist Awards, and a semi-finalist in the 2023 Herbie Hancock Competition. He also won the Grand Bohemian Prize at the 2022 American Jazz Pianist Competition. Esteban also works as an avid composer. He has garnered three ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Awards, and has won fifteen Downbeat Student Music Awards. He was commissioned by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra to write a big band arrangement for the Thelonious Monk 100th birthday celebration. Esteban routinely donates his time and performances to charitable causes such as the Jazz Ambassadors, the American Cancer Society, Haiti Disaster Relief, Aid to Victims of Hurricane Maria, and to provide musical instruments for needs-based students. In 2021, he led a benefit concert for the GHESKIO Haitian Global Health Alliance at the Jazz Gallery, and successfully raised $1400 for victims of the 2021 Haiti Earthquake.

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