Kennesaw State University announced in a news release that educator and cellist Dr. Jesús Castro-Balbi has been named the director of the Dr. Bobbie Bailey School of Music.

The appointment is effective July 1.

The hiring comes as the Bailey School of Music was recently named the recipient of a $5 million gift from the Bobbie Bailey Foundation.

“Dr. Jesús Castro-Balbi is a world-class concert cellist who brings to KSU a profile of international repute,” said Ivan Pulinkala, dean of the College of the Arts. “I look forward to welcoming him to the leadership cabinet of the College of the Arts and working closely with him to advance the Bailey School of Music with a focus on student success, as well as artistic and scholarly excellence.”

Castro-Balbi said, “I am honored and thrilled to join Kennesaw State University at this exciting juncture. KSU’s commitment to student success, innovation, creativity, inclusive excellence, and societal impact is truly inspiring. I look forward to serving the Dr. Bobbie Bailey School of Music at KSU as we celebrate the accomplishments and chart the future of this extraordinary community.”

The news release from KSU described Castro-Balbi’s career accomplishments as follows:

Internationally renowned educator and cellist Castro-Balbi has performed in the US, Latin America, Europe and Asia in chamber music and as a soloist with the Aarhus (Denmark), Dallas, and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras; the China, Louisiana, and Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestras; the Leipzig Radio Orchestra; and the National Symphony Orchestra of Peru. He has been featured at New York’s Alice Tully Hall, over a dozen times at Carnegie Hall, at the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center and at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall.

To date, he has presented 53 premiere performances of music for cello, the world premiere recording of 19 works, and is the dedicatee of 19 compositions. Notable among these is his recording of the cello concerto Lord of the Air by Jimmy López for Harmonia Mundi with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra led by Miguel Harth-Bedoya.

“Dr. Jesús Castro-Balbi is a world-class concert cellist who brings to KSU a profile of international repute,” said Dean Pulinkala. “I look forward to welcoming him to the leadership cabinet of the College of the Arts and working closely with him to advance the Bailey School of Music with a focus on student success, as well as artistic and scholarly excellence.” 

He has guest taught in Beijing, Paris, Leipzig and Stuttgart, and at The Juilliard School, and at the Yale School of Music.

Castro-Balbi is of Peruvian heritage and was raised in France.

He graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur at Lyon, from Indiana University, Bloomington, and from the Yale School of Music.

He earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Juilliard School.