Armando Castellano

Castellano is a musician
and educator originally from San Jose, now living in Menlo Park, California. He
graduated with honors from San Jose City College and the University of
California at Los Angeles, where he studied with Bob Watt and Richard Todd,
before moving on to receive a master’s degree at the Manhattan School of Music
in New York City, where he studied with Erik Ralske and Jerome Ashby as part of
their Orchestral Performance Program. He attended the Aspen Music Festival and
toured with the Russian American Youth Orchestra. He has performed in many of
the Bay Area’s regional orchestras and has spent much of the last ten years
organizing and performing chamber music, culminating in his current work as
founder and director of the wind quintet, Quinteto Latino. Though he
has been a musician his entire life, Armando rarely had the opportunity to
perform classical works culturally relevant to him and his community until the
formation of this unique ensemble. He has taught throughout the Bay Area in
both English and Spanish and is currently an adjunct faculty member at San José
City College. The rest of his life will be devoted to engaging himself
philanthropically with his other passion, the environment, and raising his two
sons, Andries and Wim, who respectfully refer to “Papi’s” musician friends as
“niños de música.” Read more at quintetolatino.org.