Chris Castro is a composer and double bassist from Brooklyn, New York. His music has been described as “On par with Varèse,” giving him the nickname “The New Colossus of Sound.” He has a Ph.D. in Composition and Theory from UC Davis and a Bachelor’s in Music from the Juilliard School in both double bass and composition.

His new work, Canções dos Desassossego (Songs of Disquiet), is being written for the Lyris Quartet and soprano Sharon Harms and will be premiered in 2023. Canções dos Desassossego is an evening length song-cycle that sets the poetry and prose of Fernando Pessoa, taking the title from Pessoa’s incomplete novel “The Book of Disquiet.” His music has been performed by Sharon Harms and the Composers Conference Ensemble under James Baker (Two Songs from Brooklyn Narcissus), the St. Louis Symphony under David Robertson (Choruses III), pianists Sarah Cahill and Eric Zivian (IV–I), piano duo HereNowHear (Beethausenstro—Castockhoven) and the Lydian String Quartet (Choruses IV). His current composition projects include a work for violist / composer Kurt Rohde, a marimba duo for Chris Froh and Mayumi Hama. He was the 2022 Guest Composer for the James Tenney Memorial Symposium, composing and collaborating with the New Mexico Contemporary Ensemble. He has lectured at UC Davis and Sacramento State University, and joined the faculty of Chapman University in August 2022 as Assistant Professor of Composition.