Estel Vivó Casanovas

Winner of the 2025 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, saxophonist Estel Vivó Casanovas is a rapidly emerging exceptional voice in the international saxophone scene. Originally from Barcelona, Spain, and currently based in Rochester, NY, Estel is a multi-award-winning musician celebrated for her compelling performance presence and scholarly approach.

Highlights of her upcoming 26-27 season feature orchestral and recital presentations across Europe and the United States. She will make her Carnegie Hall recital debut in Weill Recital Hall, presented by Young Concert Artists, as well as her Washington, D.C. recital debut co-presented by Washington Performing Arts and Young Concert Artists at Church of the Epiphany. She appears as a feature soloist with the Huxford Symphony Orchestra at the University of Alabama, performing Jacques Ibert’s Concertino da camera and Darius Milhaud’s Scaramouche. On the recital stage, she will be presented by Ithaca College, the Port Washington Public Library, Blanco Performing Arts, the Tennessee Arts Academy, and the Lucerne Rachmaninoff Foundation. Her international festival engagements include a featured laureate recital at Germany’s prestigious Usedom Music Festival.

Among her national and international accolades, her achievements include First Prize at the 2024 Manhattan International Music Competition in the Young Artist Category, and First Prize at the 2023 International Saxophone Academy, as well as 2nd Prize at the 2021 International Music Competition in Krakow Poland. She has performed as a soloist at Carnegie Hall and will make her YCA debut there in February 2027. She has also performed as a soloist with the Symphony Orchestra of the Terrassa Conservatory.

Estel has been featured in the media on multiple occasions. Her live concerts have been broadcast on programs such as Els programes de Catalunya Música from Catalunya Música. She has also been interviewed on radio programs like Esmorzem amb Estel Vivó Casanovas (Catalunya Música) and El Submarí (Ràdio Terrassa), as well as in publications including Diari de Terrassa and Gaseta de Matadepera.

Alongside her performance Estel is also an active researcher and teacher – directing the New Horizons Saxophone Ensemble at the Eastman School of Music. Her current project, Masked Dissonance: Avant-Garde Music as a Subtle Resistance in Francoist Spain, examines how experimental music developed within the cultural and political context of the Cold War and mid-20th-century Spain. She presented this research at the Festival Internacional de Saxofone de Palmela (Portugal).

Estel holds a Master’s degree from the Eastman School of Music, where she is now pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in saxophone performance, both under the mentorship of Professor Chien-Kwan Lin. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from the Liceu Conservatory of Barcelona, where she studied with Professor Albert Julià Torné and was supported by a scholarship from the Ferrer-Salat Music Foundation.

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YCA represents saxophonist Estel Vivó Casanovas for worldwide engagements. Please contact us for more information.