David Castillo
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DAVID CASTILLO is a New Orleans-native performing artist and producer who delivers “impassioned,” (LA Times) “beautifully sung and confidently acted” (Opera News) performances in the US and Europe. Castillo collaborates on and creates many cutting edge projects in music and theatre. Upcoming engagements include his return Off-Broadway to reprise the role of Atzuko and to cover Figaro in ¡Figaro! (90210) and to the Los Angeles Philharmonic to cover Ryan McKinny in Night and Dreams: A Schubert/Beckett Recital, and his debuts with The Cleveland Orchestra in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande with Maestro Franz Welser-Möst and Director Yuval Sharon and with Long Beach Opera in Rodríguez’s Frida. Castillo launched world premieres with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Goethe in Louis Andriessen’s Theatre of the World and in Rand Steiger & Yuval Sharon’s NIMBUS, The Industry as Jameson in HOPSCOTCH (recorded/released on The Industry Records) and as Buck Barrow in McIntosh + Rice’s Bonnie and Clyde, the Los Angeles Opera (and later in his Off-Broadway & New York Debut) as Atzuko in Mozart+Guerrerio’s ¡Figaro! (90210), the Los Angeles Master Chorale as King David in Kirchner’s Songs of Ascent, the USC Fischer Museum in Parola’s infinite self, and Loyola New Orleans in Skelton’s Letters to Santa. He performed West Coast premieres as the Title Role in Britten’s Owen Wingrave and as Ferdinand in Hoiby’s The Tempest. He made his European Debut at La Mairie du 3e arrondissement de Paris with pianist Francois Chouchan performing Schubert’s Winterreise, a work they previously performed in Los Angeles and New Orleans. With Le Salon de Musiques at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Castillo and Chouchan collaborated on Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, extensive amounts of other Schubert lieder, and in 2018 Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte. A voice tailored to the French Baryton Martin repertoire, he has performed many of its most challenging roles and song cycles: Oreste in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride; Le Mari in Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tirésias as Le Mari and Chanson Gaillardes; Ravel’s L’enfant et les Sortilèges as L’horloge Comtoise, Histoires Naturelles and Don Quichotte à Dulcinée; Debussy’s Trois Ballades de François Villon; and Fauré’s L’horizon Chimerique.
A frequent performer of early music, he collaborated as Soloist in Handel’s Alexander’s Feast, the Messiah Sing-along, and Bach’s Matthäus-Passion with the Los Angeles Master Chorale. He has performed other works of Bach, including Jesus in Johannes-Passion and Cantatas 73, 106, and 147; and Handel’s Messiah. Other orchestral performances include Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem; Fauré’s Requiem; Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs and Fantasia on Christmas Carols. Other notable roles performed include Anthony in Sweeney Todd, Papageno in 
The Magic Flute, Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Belcore in The Elixir of Love, Sid in Albert Herring, Des Grieux in Massenet’s Le portrait de Manon, and Il Barone di Trombonok in Il Viaggio a Reims. Castillo graduated with Honors both from the University of Southern California with a Master of Music under Rod Gilfry and from Loyola University with a Bachelor of Music under the late Philip Frohnmayer. While at Loyola, David made his professional operatic debut with the New Orleans Opera as The Old Gypsy in Verdi’s Il Trovatore and performed with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra as Bill Bobstay in Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore. In addition, he is a commercial actor and a print model. On the screen, he has been featured on America’s Got Talent and in commercials for Burger King, Heineken, and PicBot. He served on the faculty of the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival. He is a muay thai, boxing, brazilian jiu-jitsu, mezcal, cake (the band), latin music, jazz, spanish guitar, Netflix Chef’s Table, traveling, and New Orleans enthusiast.
