Tim Callobre

2010 National Debut Competition Runner-up

Tim Callobre is a 17-year-old guitarist, composer, and pianist.  As a guitarist, Tim has won several solo competitions including 1^st place in the Parkening Young Guitarist Competition, the  American String Teachers Association (ASTA) National Solo Competition for Classical Guitar, the California State ASTA Classical Guitar Solo Competition, and the Aron Green/ASTA Guitar Competition.  He recently won Grand Prize in the 2010 Spotlight Awards in the Classical Instrumental category and was the first guitarist to be a finalist in Spotlight’s 23-year history.  Tim was the recipient of the Young Musicians Foundation (YMF) / Merv Griffin Memorial Scholarship.  He has performed as a classical guitar soloist with the YMF Debut Orchestra, the South Coast Symphony, and the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony.   Tim recently played at the White House as part of the White House Music Series, with the First Lady in attendance.  He has appeared on the PBS TV show “From The Top – Live From Carnegie Hall,” performing as a soloist and in a quintet with violinist Joshua Bell.  Tim has performed on several television and national radio shows, including multiple appearances on the radio show  “From The Top,” and in various solo concerts.  He has performed on many exciting stages ranging from the “Grammy Salute to Classical Music” event for The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences to the Gordon Getty mansion to several appearances on the late Don Ho’s shows in Hawaii and California.  He studies guitar with William Kanengiser.

As a composer, Tim is a winner of the 2010 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards for a solo piano piece.  He was a previous winner of the same award in 2007 for a solo guitar piece as well.  Tim has had two of his compositions performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall.  Another piece, written in collaboration with three other young composers, was performed by Christian McBride and the Sonus Quartet at Disney Hall.  Tim is a Senior Fellow with the L.A. Phil’s Composer Fellowship Program.  In that Program, Tim was one of four high school students studying composition for two years under Pulitzer prize-winning composer Steven Stucky.  Tim’s compositions have been performed at many venues including The Recording Academy’s “Grammy Salute to Classical Music” event.  Tim was recognized as a young composer at the Whittier College School of Music New Music Festival at the age of 10.

As a pianist, Tim won 3rd place at the Los Angeles Liszt International Piano Competition, Division III.  He has been selected to perform for the Honors Recitals of The Colburn School of Performing Arts each year since 2007 and is the recipient of  a merit scholarship with the school.  Tim also was a winner of the First Annual Piano Festival at Colburn and a winner of other  Southern California regional competitions.  He has performed as the harpsichordist with the Colburn Chamber Orchestra.  He studies piano with Jeffrey Lavner.