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Aisha Syed Castro
Violin Faculty
String Area - Violin Faculty Biography
Aisha is 'The future of Dominican classical music' by the words of the late Maestro Carlos Piantini. She began her violinistic pursuits at the tender age of four taking private lessons in ‘El Hogar de la Armonía’ in her home country. The year following her initiation, Aisha became part of the Dominican Youth Symphony Orchestra (DYSO) in the first violins. Her mastery of the instrument developed so rapidly that by the time she was eight years old she was performing concerts and recitals as a soloist. At age eleven, Aisha made her debut with the Dominican Symphony Orchestra (DSO) becoming the youngest Dominican soloist to perform therein as she played Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto in G minor. Aisha was an inspiration to the late Dominican composer Bienvenido Bustamante, whom dedicated his last composition to her in 2001. Bearing the title ‘Fantasías para una niña’, the piece was premiered that very same year as Aisha played it before a crowd of prestigious dignitaries in her home country.
These early successes paved the way to her acceptance in the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin School in 2003. Such accomplishment made her the first Latin American female to be admitted at the schoolwhere she studied with Natasha Boyarskaya and Loutsia Ibragimova. During her time at The Yehudi Menuhin School, she took part in a number of concerts organised by the school, mainly as a soloist (violin and viola) but also as a chamber musician and an orchestral player, in venues such as the Royal Albert hall,Wigmore hall, Purcell room, Queen Elizabeth hall, Mansion House and Sheldonian Theatre. She has also performed as a soloist in many festivals including the Banstead Arts festival, Leamington Hastings festival, and the Yehudi Menuhin International Music Festival in Gstaad, Switzerland. She has also performed as a chamber musician at the Gower and Bath festivals.
In 2005 she received a personal invitation by world-renowned pianist and conductor Philipe Entremont to attend the Fontainebleau summer festival of which he is the artistic director. There she had the opportunity to perform a series of concerts in venues such as the Fontainebleau Chateau.
Aisha regularly performs with the DSO, and past Dominican presidents like the late Joaquin Balaguer, Hipólito Mejia and Leonel Fernández have requested Aisha’s performances regularly, both in the Dominican Republic and as a representation of the nation internationally. She has performed at the Kauffman Hall in New York, Enrique V. Iglesias Auditorium in Washington D.C. and was asked to represent the D.R. in India at the inauguration of the Dominican Embassy in New Dehli.
In summer 2007 Aisha performed the Suita Concertante by the highly acclaimed composer Menachem Wiesenberg at the Yehudi Menuhin International Music Festival. Conducted by Malcolm Singer and with the Yehudi Menuhin School Orchestra. Following the success of this performance, she was invited back to perform at the 2009 festival. As an innovative artist she gave the Swiss premiere of Noam Sheriff’s viola concerto ‘Canarian Vespers’, receiving great feedback from the Swiss press. For all the performances of this viola concerto, both in Switzerland and England, Aisha was lent the Testore viola that was of personal use to Yehudi Menuhin.
She was offered a full scholarship being an overseas student at two of the most prestigious music colleges in the world, The Royal College of Music and The Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In March 2009, Aisha won the Casandra Award for ‘International Classical Artist of the year’. In September 2009, she was given the ‘Youth Ambassador’ award at the Latin Pride National Awards 2009, in Boston at the Wilbur Theatre, where she was also asked to perform in the event which was broadcast on national television in America and on most Latin American countries. Early this year April 2013 she was awarded the Soberano Award as the best classical artist. In May 2013 the label Decca records chose Aisha as the only violinist and one of ten semifinalists for the prestigious The Arts Club Classical Award in association with Decca Records.
Aisha has travelled Europe, the Middle East, the Caribbean and the United States of America with her Pasión Latina World Tour promoting her CD Pasión Latina recorded with pianist Nigel Hutchison at the Menuhin Hall.
Future engagements will see Aisha performing the Beethoven concerto with the Symphony of the Americas orchestra the United States of America in the 2013/2014 season in Miami, at the Mettlen concert series in Bern, the Beethoven concerto as well as recitals at the CICA festival in Dallas, TX, the four seasons by Vivaldi with the St. Christopher chamber orchestra in Vilnius, at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, at the St. George International Music Festival in Greece and at the prestigious Soirée d'Or gala in London in December 2013 to name a few.
Aisha is graduating from The Royal College of Music in July this year where she is a recipient of the prestigious Soirée D’Or full Scholarship. The violin Aisha plays is an Antonius Pelizon kindly lent by Florian Fine Violins.