Juan Jose Castro (Castro, Juan Jose) |

Castro, Juan José

A musical family named Castro plays an important role in the cultural life of today’s Latin America. It consists of four brothers: violinist and musicologist Luis Arnaldo, cellist and composer Washington, cellist, composer and conductor José Maria, and, finally, the most famous conductor and composer Juan José. The popularity of the latter has stepped far beyond the borders of Latin America, and he owes this primarily to his conducting activities. The simple, restrained and convincing manner of Castro, devoid of external showiness, won recognition in many countries of America and Europe, where the artist regularly performed. Largely thanks to Castro, the music of Latin American, and primarily Argentinean authors, became known in other countries.

Juan José Castro is a versatile and gifted musician. He studied in Buenos Aires, improved in Paris with V. d’Andy and E. Riesler as a composer, and after returning to his homeland, he played the violin in various chamber ensembles. In the early thirties, Castro devoted himself almost entirely to conducting and composing. He founded and led the Rinascimento chamber orchestra, which grew into a first-class ensemble with a rich repertoire. In addition, Castro from 1930 for fourteen years constantly conducted opera and ballet performances in the best theater in Latin America – the Colon Theater in Buenos Aires. From 19 he became the director of the Association of Professional Orchestra and the Symphony Association, conducting concerts of these musical societies. In 1943, disagreement with the actions of the dictator Peron forced Castro to leave his homeland for 12 years. Returning, he again took a leading place in the musical life of the country. The artist also performed with all the best orchestras in the United States, gave concerts throughout Europe, and for a number of years led the symphony orchestras of Havana (Cuba) and Montevideo (Uruguay). Peru Castro owns compositions in various genres – operas, symphonies, chamber and choral music.

L. Grigoriev, J. Platek