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In the same breath as the Yo-Yo Ma’s of the world, Edmar Castañeda fearlessly stuns audiences, musicians, and critics alike with his incredible talents as a player and composer. NPR’s “Fresh Air” touts, “...his technique is the real astonishment. Castañeda juggles lead, rhythm and bass lines, using a variety of hard and soft string attacks to keep those voices distinct — all without giving up the groove...His amazing technique...raises the bar for every harpist.” The New York Times notes, “...Castaneda... engage[s] modern jazz in ways that honor...cultural origins, and [he has] the capacity to astonish by virtue of [his] fingerstyle technique.” Moses Sumney highlights his “5 Favorite NPR “Tiny Desk Concerts” and says, “My brain cracked open when I first saw this. Some classical instruments are so ingrained in our heads for sounding one way; Edmar restructures what we know of harp, defiantly expanding the bounds of the instrument.”
Edmar Castañeda released his latest studio album, Viento Sur, featuring his World Ensemble on Friday, May 5, 2023. Castañeda follows up seven albums (Cuarto de Colores; Entre Cuerdas; Double Portion; Live at the Jazz Standard; Live In Montreal; Harp vs. Harp, Family) with his latest recording project, Viento Sur, with a nine-person ensemble of acclaimed global musicians from Switzerland, Brazil, Cuba, Israel, Chile, USA, Argentina, and Colombia. An array of compositions on Viento Sur are commissioned by American Chamber Music from the “New Jazz Works Grant.”
Castañeda’s renowned albums as a bandleader are interchanged with awe-inspiring symphonic works with the likes of the Orquestra Clássica de Espinho and the São Paulo Jazz Symphony Orchestra, and chamber pieces for the Israel Camerata Jerusalem and the Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia.
“The Colombian plays the harp like hardly anyone else on earth. His hands, seemingly powered by two different people, produce a totally unique, symphonic fullness of sound, a rapid-fire of chords, balance of melodic figures and drive, served with euphoric Latin American rhythms, and the improvisatory freedom of a trained jazz musician...captivating virtuosity, but in no way only virtuosity for its own sake,” says Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.