Biography
Lauded as “vibrant” and “gifted” (Chicago Classical Review), Filipino-American cellist Ezra Escobar made his solo debut at age 16 with the Oistrakh Symphony of Chicago and has since made appearances with the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, Young Steinway Concert Series, Evanston Chamber Music Festival, Chicago Rush Hour Concerts, Lake Forest Civic Orchestra, Waukegan Chamber Music Society, the EstOvest Festival in Turin, Italy, on Chicago’s WFMT radio station, and collaborated with Victor Asuncion, Renaud Déjardin, Naomi Berrill, Francesco Dillon, Claudio Pasceri, kora virtuoso Ballaké Sissoko, activist music collective Sound Off, and jazz clarinetist Ken Peplowski.
Ezra has performed at venues such as Symphony Center in Chicago, Alice Tully Hall, Pritzker Pavilion, and Ravinia Festival’s Bennett Gordon Hall, and has worked with conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Antonio Pappano, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, JoAnn Falletta, Rafael Payare, Kirill Karabits, & Cristian Mǎcelaru. As a composer, his works have been performed throughout the USA, the UK, and Australia, notably in his hometown of Chicago at Symphony Center and the Ravinia Festival.
Ezra is a resident artist of the Fil-Am Music Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting exceptional Filipino classical musicians through scholarship assistance and performance opportunities. With the Foundation, he has presented the U.S premieres of works by Filipino composers such as A.J Villanueva, Gabriel Mendoza, and National Artists of the Philippines for Music Antonino Buenaventura, Lucrecia Kasilag & Lucio San Pedro.
Ezra studied at the Music Institute of Chicago before obtaining a BM at the Mannes School of Music and a master’s degree at the Royal College of Music. While at the RCM, he won top prizes in both cello and composition. He is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma at the RCM in the studio of Alexander Chaushian, and his primary teachers have been Tanya Carey, Marcy Rosen, and Hélène Dautry. Additional studies include masterclasses with Johannes Moser, Alisa Weilerstein, Hans Jensen, Timothy Eddy, Marc Coppey, Colin Carr, Eric-Maria Couturier, Matt Haimovitz, Astrid Schween, Fred Sherry, & Denis Brott.
photo: Claire Shovelton