Soloist Bio

Andrea Casarrubios, cello/composer

Praised by The New York Times for having “traversed the palette of emotions” with “gorgeous tone and an edge-of-seat intensity,” GRAMMY® -nominated Spanish-American cellist and composer Andrea Casarrubios as been commissioned by world-class orchestras, ensembles, and soloists and appeared as a featured soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The title work from her album SEVEN, described as "an intense and elegiac tribute to the essential workers during the pandemic" (The New York Times), was nominated for a 2025 GRAMMY® Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.

First Prize winner of numerous international competitions and awards, Casarrubios has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Beijing’s National Center for the Performing Arts, Madrid’s National Auditorium, and the Ravinia and Verbier Festivals. Recent engagements include the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra’s world premiere of Casarrubios’s large-scale concerto for cello and orchestra, MIRAGE, led by conductor Christopher James Lees and featuring the composer as cello soloist, and concerts at the Brussels Cello Festival, Festival Internacional de Violoncello León in Mexico, and the George Enescu Festival in Romania. From 2023 through 2025, Casarrubios serves as resident composer for both CreArtBox in NYC and Festival ADAR in Spain.

Her compositions have been programmed by organizations including Carnegie Hall, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, National Philharmonic, and the Sphinx Organization, and have been broadcast on NPR as well as national radio stations in Argentina, Brazil, France, Sweden, Australia, and Spain.

Commissioned by cellist Thomas Mesa, Casarrubios’s work SEVEN received its Carnegie Hall premiere in 2021, and has been performed in more than 36 countries since. The piece was nominated for a GRAMMY® Award following its release on the 2024 album of the same name (Odradek Records), which featured Casarrubios as cellist and composer in seven of her most recent works, including collaborations with Manhattan Chamber Players and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Casarrubios was born in a small Spanish mountain village, where she began piano studies at age two and cello at age four. She moved to the U.S. when she was 18 to pursue a Bachelor of Music degree from Johns Hopkins University, later receiving her Master of Music degree from the University of Southern California and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the City University of New York. Her teachers have included Maria de Macedo, Amit Peled, Marcy Rosen, and Ralph Kirshbaum. As part of her Doctoral degree, Casarrubios also studied composition with John Corigliano. Often incorporating her own compositions into her recital programs, Casarrubios began accepting commissions and writing for other musicians when she was 24.

A dedicated mentor, Casarrubios has taught masterclasses in Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Spain, and China, and at numerous festivals and institutions including The Juilliard School, University of Colorado Boulder, University of North Carolina, Missouri State University, and the City University of New York.

Learn more at andreacasarrubios.com