ALEXANDRE CASTRO-BALBI (Cello)

Alexandre Castro-Balbi was born in 1991 in Besançon/France and grew up in a musical family of Latin American origin. At the age of seven he received his first cello lessons from György Adam at the conservatory of Besançon. In 2004 he graduated with a music diploma to continue his lessons with Marc Coppey at the conservatory of Paris. Two years later, he began his studies at the National Superior Conservatory of Paris (CNSM) with Philippe Muller, which he completed with a master’s degree. Subsequently he deepened his studies with Prof. W. E. Schmidt at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar. After completing a semester at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin with Claudio Bohórquez as part of the ERASMUS programme he went to Clemens Hagen at the Mozarteum in Salzburg for another semester. He also participated in numerous master classes, among others with Steven Isserlis, László Fenyő, Lluís Claret, Sadao Harada, Peter Bruns, Raphaël Pidoux, Xavier Gagnepain, etc. Alexandre won several international prizes such as second prize and special prize at the Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition in Morelia, Mexico. He also received the second prize at the Prince of Asturias Villa de Llanes competition in Spain. At the International Competition Franz Schubert and Modern Music in Graz, Alexandre was awarded the second prize (no first prize awarded) with his Piano trio "Suyana" and the special prize for the best interpretation of a contemporary work. Already at the age of 19 years Castro-Balbi reached the semi-final of the ARD music competition in Munich. He won scholarships from the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe, the Académie musicale de Villecroze and the Foundation for Young Musicians in Besançon. Alexandre has been invited to a variety of international festivals such as the Internacional Festival of Cello, Lima (Peru), the Festival of Asturias (Spain), the Music in the Mountains, Colorado, Festival International de musique de Besançon "and the Festival of" Villa Musica "(Rhineland-Palatinate). As a soloist, he performed with the Munich chamber orchestra, the Jena Philharmonic, the Budapest Chamber Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Panamá, the Berlin-Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre du Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris, the Provincial Youth Orchestra Peru and the Orchester Philharmonique de Besançon under the baton of renowned conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Myung-Whun Chung, Péter Csaba and Zsolt Nagy in the Berlin Philharmonic, the Salle Pleyel, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Munich Philharmonic, the Victoria Hall Geneva, the Teatro Nacional Madrid, the Graz Music Association and Solitaire Salzburg. His chamber music partners are among others Lucas Debargue, Markus Groh, Natasha Prischipenko, Christophe Giovaninetti, Svetlin Roussev, Diana Ligeti, Mayu Kishima, Marc Bouchkov, Marie Chilemme, Adrien Boisseau, Regis Vincent, Lena Semenova, Guillaume Chilemme, David Castro-Balbi and Thibaud Epp. Alexandre is Principal Cellist of the German Nationaltheater and Staatskappelle Weimar since June 2015.