Zaira Castillo is an experimental pianist and sound artist whose work expands the expressive possibilities of the piano through electroacoustic performance, improvisation, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Her practice moves fluidly between instrumental performance, sound installation, and the transformation of everyday sonic materials. She is particularly interested in gesture, long-form musical structures, and the relationship between what we see, what we expect to hear, and what we ultimately perceive.

As a sound artist, Zaira designs performances that investigate gestural surrogacy, everyday sonic materials, and the ways our sonic environments shape perception and listening.

Zaira is the co-founder of Duo Riso with clarinetist Evan Kopca. Together, they create performances that reimagine the concert experience through contemporary classical music, experimental sound, and intermedia practice. Working across acoustic, electroacoustic, and improvised contexts, the duo frequently incorporates sculpture, recycled materials, interactive lighting, theatrical elements, and custom-built performance environments to expand the expressive possibilities of piano and clarinet.

Zaira has appeared at venues throughout North America, including Constellation Chicago, Elastic Arts, the Epiphany Center for the Arts, Experimental Sound Studio, Beyond Chicago, Western Michigan University, Western Oregon University, Colby College, and the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in New York City. She has also performed at festivals and concert series including Codes d’accès (Montréal), SPLICE Festival and Institute, Electronic Music Midwest, the CLEAT Series, New Music Chicago's Impromptu Fest, the Frequency Series, Freedom From / Freedom To, and the 2025 Time:Spans Festival.

A DAAD Scholar, Zaira will continue developing her interdisciplinary practice in the Master of Music in Sound Art at Hochschule für Musik und Theater München (HMTM) beginning in Fall 2026.

Zaira is a Steinway Educational Partner and previously maintained a private piano studio of more than thirty students in Chicago. Outside of performance and teaching, she enjoys hiking and long walks in nature, teaching yoga as a certified RYT-200 instructor, film photography, and producing electronic music under the alias dela cas.