Biography

Hailed by The New York Times for her “virtuoso panache,” Venezuelan flutist Maria Fernanda Castillo joins the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra as Acting Second Flute for the 2026–2027 season. She is Associate Professor of Flute at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and has served as Associate Principal Flute of the Caracas Municipal Symphony Orchestra and Second Flute of the Lake Charles Symphony. Her career spans orchestral and solo performances throughout the Americas, including solo appearances with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, Caracas Municipal Symphony Orchestra, and Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas. Her extensive orchestral experience also includes performances with the Chattanooga Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Sphinx Symphony, Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra, and Venezuela National Philharmonic.

A musicologist, educator, and co-founder and director of the Latin American Music Initiative, Maria advocates for greater awareness and accessibility of music by unknown composers through performance, recording, scholarship, and critical editions. Her work includes an online catalogue of 143 flute works by Venezuelan composers, contributions to the collaborative Flauta Latino América catalogue, and a 2020–2021 Mellon Public Engagement in the Humanities Fellowship. She is also the founder and director of Vols Flute Fest and has served as coordinator of the National Flute Association Young Artist Competition and as an adjudicator for national and regional competitions.

A native of Caracas, she holds bachelor’s, specialist, and doctoral degrees in music from the University of Michigan, along with certificates in musicology, entrepreneurship, and leadership; a master’s degree in music from the University of Miami; and a master’s degree in Latin American musicology from the Universidad Central de Venezuela.