Luiz de Moura Castro was born in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. Luiz gave his debut recital at just 9 years old at the Teatro Municipal after winning a competition. He is a graduate of the National School of Music, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (summa cum laude) and of the Lorenzo Fernandez Academy of Music, Rio de Janerio and the Liszt Academy in Budapest.
In 2002, along with Spanish soprano Maria Jose Montiel, their album Modhina was nominated for a Latin Grammy. His discography includes over 45 CDs for Ensayo (Spain), Euterpe (Switzerland), L’Art (Brazil) and Musical Heritage (United States). Highlights of his recordings include Rachmaninov Concertos number 2 and 3, Paganini Variations, the 5 Concertos by Beethoven, the opus omnia of Ginastera, Brazil Piano, Argentina Piano, and Cuba Piano for Ensayo. Modinha with soprano Maria Jose Montiel, Brazil Sarau, the complete Chopin Nocturnes, Schumann Live, 7 Liszt recordings, 4 hands recording with his wife Bridget, a piano quintet by Lorenzo Fernandez and a DVD with cellist Antonio Guerra Vicente. His CD of the complete Chopin Nocturnes appeared on the cover of Fanfare Magazine (May/June 2013), where the reviewer compared them as a possible alternative to Rubinstein’s.
Moura Castro has appeared with the Orchestre de Chambre, Lausanne, Lisbon Radio Orchestra, Filarmonici di Torino, Bratislava & Janacek orchestras, Yaroslav Symphony, Russia, the Dallas, Fort Worth, Hartford, Saint Louis and Syracuse symphonies, I Musici, London besides all the major Brazilian orchestras, Mendoza Orchestras and Orquestra of Venezuela. Solo recitals include Piccolo Scala, Milano Teatro Ghione, Roma Salle Gaveau, Paris; Palau de la Musica, Barcelona; Rubinstein Hall, St. Petersburg; Merkin Hall, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and he has performed at Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. He was invited by Lili Kraus to teach at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth in 1968.
In 1998, he began a visiting professorship at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. From 1978 he has been a professor of piano at the Hartt School, University of Hartford, where he was chair of the piano department for 15 years. In addition, he works in Rio de Janeiro as a visiting professor at the Pro Arte Seminarios de Musica, and as Associate Professor at the Conservatori Superior del Liceu in Barcelona, Spain.
Luiz de Moura Castro appeared on the front cover of the June 1998 issue of Amadeus, the most important music magazine of Spain with a 4 page extensive interview included within. He was nominated among the top 10 recordings of the November issue of Ritmo, the recording magazine in Spain, in “The Great Unknown-Piano de Cuba, Brasil y Argentina.” The magazine praised, “marvelous music translated into sound by a great pianist. Three memorable discs full of essence and very beautiful feelings.”
He has appeared in festivals in Brazil, Argentina, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Japan, Canada, Venezuela and the United States. He organized several Liszt Festivals in Rio de Janeiro. He has lectured and played many times at the World Piano Pedagogy Conference in Ekaterinenburg, Russia, Slovenia and the United States; at the Amalfi Coast Festival, Italy; in Prague, Czech Republic; in Sendai and Tokyo. He lectured at the World Piano Pedagogy Conferences, 1996-2006, and was a regular adjudicator for the Fulbright Commision.
Professor de Moura Castro is included in the “World’s Who’s Who of Musicians”, and Benjamin Saver’s “The Most Wanted Piano Teachers in the U.S.A.” He was awarded the title Honorary Hungarian citizen and the medal of the Silver Raven in 2013 and received a special citation for his contribution to the Hungarian music of Franz Liszt in June 2014 at the 50th festival of the American Liszt Society ? of which he is a board member. Alan Walker has called him “the supreme Lisztian”. Great pianist Paul Badura-Skoda in August 2014 in Obidos, Portugal spoke of his recent recital there “…in 60 years I have not heard such Liszt playing. We could hear an organ, a singer, an orchestra …We bow before such a master”
Luiz was awarded an Honorary Hungarian Citizenship and Medal of the Silver Raven in 2013 from the Corvino Cultural Association in California for his life long dedication to the words of Liszt, and received a special citation as “Supreme Lisztian” along with renowned Liszt scholar Alan Walker. In 2014, Luiz was recognized as the 2014 Immigrant of the Year, receiving citations from the Connecticut government.
Luiz de Moura Castro is also the President of the Fryderyk Chopin Society of Connecticut.