Zosha Di Castri

Zosha Di Castri (born 1985) is a Canadian composer and pianist living and working in New York. Her work came to international attention when a specially commissioned piece about the lunar landings opened the BBC Proms 2019.

Zosha Di Castri
Born1985
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
NationalityCanadian
Alma materMcGill University
OccupationComposer, pianist

Early life and education

Di Castri was born in Calgary, Alberta, and grew up in St. Albert.[1] She completed her bachelors of music in piano performance and composition at McGill University in Montreal, and she attended Columbia University in New York, graduating with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree.

Career

Di Castri became an assistant professor of music at Columbia in 2014. In 2015 her work Dear Life was premiered by the National Arts Centre orchestra.[2][3] Her work has also been performed by the San Francisco Symphony, New World Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

On 19 July 2019 her specially commissioned work Long is the Journey, Short is the Memory opened the BBC Proms 2019 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Singers conducted by Karina Canellakis.[4][5] Reviewers praised the composition, and commented on Di Castri's skill as an orchestrator.[6][7]

Di Castri's compositions are also performed by the JACK Quartet.[8]

In 2019 di Castri released a debut album of her compositions in performances by various ensembles and artists.[9]

Selected works
  • Cortege (2010) for 13 musicians
  • La forma dello spazio (2010) for chamber ensemble
  • Lineage (2013)
  • Phonobellow (2015) for 5 instrumentalists, electronics and interactive sound sculpture, co-composed with David Adamcyk
  • String Quartet No 1 (2016)
  • Long is the Journey, Short is the Memory (2019) for Orchestra & Chorus, commissioned for the [BBC Proms] 2019

References
  1. "New music composer Zosha Di Castri talks about insights, creativity and challenges". St. Albert Gazette, Feb 10, 2018, Anna Borowiecki
  2. Sarah Jennings. Art and Politics: The History of the National Arts Centre, Second Edition. MQUP; 17 October 2019. ISBN 978-0-7735-5995-0. p. 408.
  3. Peter Robb, "NACO's cutting edge: Dear Life leads the way into a new form of musical presentation". Ottawa Citizen, September 14, 2015
  4. "Behind the Proms' celestial opening number". BBC News, By Mark Savage, 19 July 2019
  5. "First night of the Proms review – the moon, and female stars". The Guardian, Erica Jeal, 21 Jul 2019
  6. "BBC Proms, review: First night is a finely nuanced success". The Independent, 20-July-2019. Michael Church
  7. "Why more millennials should go proms". New Statesman 20-July-2019
  8. "What’s Old is Strikingly New With the JACK Quartet". San Francisco Classical Voice, By Rebecca Wishnia, May 14, 2019
  9. "Composer Zosha Di Castri Releases Debut Album TACHITIPO On New Focus Recordings". Broadway World, Oct. 25, 2019
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