Lauded as “vibrant” and “gifted” (Chicago Classical Review), Chicago-born 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, the EstOvest Festival in Turin, Italy, Birdland Jazz Club in New York City, and on Chicago’s WFMT radio station.

Ezra has performed at venues such as Symphony Center in Chicago, Alice Tully Hall, Pritzker Pavilion, and Ravinia Festival’s Bennett Gordon Hall, and has won prizes at the DePaul Concerto Festival, the Chinese Fine Arts Society Music Festival in Honor of Confucius, the Walgreens National Concerto Competition, and the Royal College of Music Contemporary Competition, where he won top prize in both the performer and composer categories.

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. With the Foundation, he has presented the U.S premieres of works by Filipino composers including Lucrecia Kasilag, Lucio San Pedro, A.J Villenueva, & Gabriel Mendoza.

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 masterclasses with Johannes Moser, Hans Jensen, Timothy Eddy, Marc Coppey, Colin Carr, Eric-Maria Couturier, Matt Haimovitz, & Astrid Schween.