Biography

Guatemalan-American cellist Rony Castro is a dedicated young cellist who started playing cello at the age of 15. He grew up in Guatemala and moved to the U.S. to attend School.

When he was in high school, he quickly became one of the major high school cellists in the state of Kansas. He got accepted to the Kansas All State Full Orchestra in 2023 and 2024. He was the principal cellist of the Wichita Youth Symphony Orchestra during the 2023-2024 season. He received an Honorable Mention at the 2024 KASTA Competition junior division. He performed a movement of the Elgar Cello Concerto at the Century II concert hall after receiving 2nd prize for the Wichita Symphony Youth Talent Competition. He went on to perform the Elgar Cello Concerto once again after receiving 1st prize for the Delano Chamber Orchestra’s Concerto Competition. He has attended the Sunflower Music Festival, Heartland Chamber Music Festival, Ascent Music Festival and The Colorado Cello Intensive.

He also serves as Faculty for the Southwest Kansas Youth Orchestras Program. A program designed to make music education more accessible to students located in Southwest Kansas.

He studied with Quinn Lake from the Wichita Symphony and Susie Yang from the Kansas City Symphony. He is now attending the UMKC conservatory for a Bachelors in Cello Performance where he is under the tutelage of Professor Michael Mermagen.