Ricardo Castro (composer)

Ricardo Rafael de la Santísima Trinidad Castro Herrera (7 February 1864 – 27 November 1907) was a Mexican concert pianist and composer, considered the last romantic of the time of Porfirio Díaz. Life Castro was born at the Hacienda de Santa Bárbara, in the municipality of Nazas, Durango. His father, Vicente Castro, was a federal deputy; his mother was María de Jesús Herrera. Castro began his music education with Pedro H. Ceniseros. In 1879, his family moved to Mexico City, where the boy entered the National Conservatory of Music and studied piano with Juan Salvatierra and . He studied harmony and counterpoint with Melesio Morales. He finished all his studies in just five years, half of the usual ten. He graduated in 1883. Castro began his musical career as a concert pianist and composer before finishing his studies. In 1882, he won two prizes. At 19, Castro finished his First Symphony in C Minor; the symphony was premiered in 1988, 81 years after his death. In 1883, the Government of Mexico chose some of Castro’s works to send to Venezuela for the centenary of Simón Bolívar’s birth and later in 1884 he made a concert tour through the United States. 1896 was the year of the first pr