Ezra Escobar

About Ezra Escobar

Lauded as “vibrant” and “gifted” (Chicago Classical Review), Filipino-American cellist Ezra Escobar maintains a prolific output as a multigenre cellist, composer, and music producer. He made his solo debut at age 16 with the Oistrakh Symphony of Chicago and was a guest soloist with the Lake Forest Civic Orchestra. Other concert engagements include appearances with the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, Young Steinway Concert Series, Evanston Chamber Music Festival, Chicago Rush Hour Concerts, the Waukegan Chamber Music Society, and on Chicago’s WFMT radio station, as well as collaborations with activist music collective Sound Off and noted jazz clarinetist Ken Peplowski.

Ezra has performed with ensembles such as the Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra, the Chicago Philharmonic, Lake Forest Symphony, and Skokie Valley Symphony orchestras, and has concertized at venues such as Symphony Center in Chicago, Alice Tully Hall, Pritzker Pavilion, Ravinia Festival’s Bennett Gordon Hall, and Pick-Staiger Hall at Northwestern University. Ezra has served as principal cello of the Mannes Orchestra and the Kankakee Valley Symphony, and has performed under conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Antonio Pappano, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, JoAnn Falletta, & Cristian Mǎcelaru.

Ezra has won prizes at the DePaul Concerto Festival, the Chinese Fine Arts Society Music Festival in Honor of Confucius, and the Walgreens National Concerto Competition. His compositions have been premiered at Bennett Gordon Hall at Ravinia Festival. the Evanston Chamber Music Society, the Heifetz Institute, and the Ogle Center at Indiana University. Festival appearances include the Heifetz Institute, the Interlochen Arts Camp, the Chicago Youth in Music Festival, and the Cincinnati Young Artists Fellowship Program. 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.

Ezra is currently a postgraduate student at the Royal College of Music, studying with Hélène Dautry. He previously studied with Marcy Rosen at the Mannes School of Music and Tanya Carey at the Music Institute of Chicago. Additional studies include lessons and master classes with Johannes Moser, Hans Jensen, Timothy Eddy, Marc Coppey, Colin Carr, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Matt Haimovitz, Amit Peled, Astrid Schween, Eric Kim, Rafael Figueroa, & Fred Sherry.

In addition to cello, Ezra is an avid music producer, and has self-released several electronic music albums, as well as written and produced music for numerous online content creators. He is currently at work on his first solo record as a cellist, inspired by 2000s rave culture and ambient music.