Announcing a new album from violinist Aisha Syed Castro

Violinist Aisha Syed Castro may well be one of the most remarkably gifted musicians to come from the Dominican Republic and the team at Divine Art are tremendously excited to have signed this young virtuoso for an album of works with American and Latin roots.

Aisha (born 1989) began to study violin at the age of four, and only two years later was a member of the Children’s Symphony Orchestra.  At the age of 11, she made her debut with the National Symphony Orchestra, becoming their youngest solo performer. In 2002 she entered the Yehudi Menuhin School in London, the first Latin American to be accepted there, followed by studies at the Royal College of Music. She has performed in the UK, in Israel, Spain, Switzerland, USA (Carnegie Hall), Abu Dhabi, Lithuania, many South American countries and in her home country.  She has been described as a virtuoso by the music press in the USA, Germany and Lithuania.

Aisha is the Honorary Cultural Goodwill Ambassador of the Dominican Republic and works tirelessly through charitable ventures (some of which she founded) to bring classical music to the underprivileged and socially disadvantaged, part of her work as a devout Christian to serve humanity.  She won the Premio Soberano award as Best Classical Artist Abroad in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2019.  She has released four previous albums.

In her new album (title to be finalized but possibly to be called ‘Heritage’) Aisha has brought together a program of works that have special meaning for her, from Spanish/Latin/American sources, including extracts from ‘West Side Story’, works by the Dominican maestro Rafael Solano, music from black composers Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and William Grant Still, and well-known little masterpieces by Piazzolla, Granados and Albeníz.  A special piece for the artist is ‘Aisha’s Dance’ from Khachaturian’s Gayaneh ballet, which she has played since she was 15.  This recording was made in April 2019 in England. Aisha’s musical partner here is pianist Martin Labazevitch who also arranged the closing track, a medley of hymns dear to Aisha including a beautiful rendering of the timeless ‘Amazing Grace’.

The album will be scheduled for release in February 2022.

Heritage (DDA 25229)

Artists: Aisha Syed Castro (violin) & Martin Labazevitch (piano)

Works

Una Primavera para el Mundo (Rafael Solano)
Oblivion (Astor Piazzolla)
West Side Story (Bernstein): America / Somewhere / I Feel Pretty
Aisha’s Dance (Khachaturian)
Tango por una Cabeza (Gardel, arr. John Williams)
Suite for Violin and Piano (William Grant Still)
Spanish Dance (Granados, arr. Solano)
Danse Orientale from Scheherezade  (Rimsky-Korsakov, arr. Kreisler)
Tango (Albeníz, arr. Solano)
Deep River, Op. 59 No. 10 (Coleridge-Taylor)
Aisha’s Prayer (arr. Labazevitch)