Pianist and composer Esteban Castro performs with his own band and as a sideman, while studying at Juilliard. The youngest-ever first prize winner in the Montreux Jazz Piano Solo Competition at age 13, he has played with and earned accolades from a constellation of top jazz players. He has played at venues including The Blue Note, The Montreux Jazz Festival, Birdland, Jazz Gallery, and Smalls Jazz Club. He was a finalist for the 2023 American Pianist Association Competition; won the Grand Bohemian Prize at the 2022 American Jazz Pianist Competition; and has garnered three ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Awards. In 2018, Mr. Castro was commissioned by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra to write a big band arrangement for the Thelonious Monk 100th birthday celebration.

“Castro shifts through the rainbow of jazz to tease out the full spectrum of influences that has colored the genre from a century ago.” — Rita Kohn, NUVO