ABOUT

Rita Castro Blanco is one of the most promising young Portuguese conductors of her generation, having had debuts with Orquestra Gulbenkian, Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, Real Filarmonía de Galícia, Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa, Orquesta Sinfonica de Navarra, among others. Rita Castro Blanco is establishing her career mainly between her home country Portugal, and the United Kingdom. From September 2019 to January 2022, she was Principal Conductor of the Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra. Alongside her performances, in 2024/24 Rita mantains her position as Assistant Conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra for a second season.

Rita Castro Blanco has been steadily expanding her experience and interest in different music fields, specially contemporary and opera, which have culminated in her being chosen for the Conducting Fellowship of the higly renowned Verbier Festival this summer, the Tanglewood Festival in 2022, the Lucerne Festival and the Women Conductor’s Mentorship in the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, both in 2021. In the summer of 2020 she led “Maratona Ópera XXI”, an opera competition of the newly founded Operafest Lisboa, where she premiered 7 original Portuguese operas.

Besides the numerous debuts, the young conductor has been invited to work in several operatic projects as Assistant Conductor, such as Così fan tutte by W.A. Mozart, with Orquestra Gulbenkian conducted by Nuno Coelho (March 2022), La Passion de Simone by the finnish K. Saariaho, with Orquestra Nacional do Teatro S. Carlos conducted by Joana Carneiro (May 2021), Mass by L. Bernstein, with Orquestra Gulbenkian conducted by Clark Rundell (Dezembro 2019), Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi by G. Puccini, with RNCM opera orchestra conducted by Martin André (December 2018), and the première of Beaumarchais, a joint commission by Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian and Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, with Orquestra Gulbenkian conducted by Pedro Amaral (July 2017).

Castro Blanco began her musical studies in Conservatório Metropolitano de Música de Lisboa, later pursuing advanced studies in Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra, where she obtained the Bachelor Degree in Orchestral Conducting in the class of Jean-Marc Burfin. In 2019 she graduated with Distinction from the Master of Music in Performance in 2019, at the Royal Northern College of Music under the guidance of Clark Rundell and Mark Heron. For her final recital of the Master’s programme, Rita gave a secure and passionate performance of an exigent programme in front of the BBC Philharmonic, where she conducted the world premiere of Tom Harrold’s Saxophone Concerto and a tone poem by the Portuguese romantic composer Luiz de Freitas Branco, Anthero de Quental.

Through the RNCM’s programme, she worked as Assistant Conductor for renowned conductors at the BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Manchester Camerata and the Hallé in a variety of conductors, ensembles and repertoire. Throughout her academic life, Rita has had the privilege to work with numerous renowned conductors and pedagogues in international Masterclasses and private sessions. This list includes Sir Mark Elder, Andris Nelsons, JoAnn Falletta, Emmanuel Ax, Johannes Schlaefli, Mark Stringer, Thomas Hengelbrock, Mark Shanahan, Jessica Cottis and the orchestras of BBC Philharmonic, CBSO, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, Royal Opera House, London Sinfonietta and CHROMA Ensemble.

Her latest engagements include debuts with Staatstheatre Darmstadt and Orquestra Sinfónica da Casa da Música.