Costa Rican-born conductor Luis Castillo-Briceño was the winner of the 1st prize at the “2nd International Conducting Competition with the Athens Philharmonia Orchestra in 2020”, selected from over 100 candidates.
Luis is the co-founder of the Junges Kammerorchester Zürich and has been serving as its artistic director and chief conductor since 2019. Among the orchestras that he has worked with are: MÁV Symphony Orchestra, Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra, Rousse Philharmonic Orchestra, Athens Philharmonia Orchestra, Salzburg Chamber Soloists, Argovia Philharmonia Orchestra, etc. In masterclasses he has been able to work with conductors such as Johannes Schlaefli, Jorma Panula, Marc Kissoczy, Iwan Wassilevski, Douglas Bostock, Michalis Economou and others.
Born from a family of musicians in San Jose, Costa Rica, he started his musical studies at age five with the violin and later began to study flute, becoming the principal flutist of the Children’s Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica. Luis studied piano at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (Switzerland), where he graduated from the class of renowned Prof. Eckart Heiligers.
He currently continues his studies under the guidance of world-acclaimed Prof. Mark Stringer at the Universtität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna.
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