Robert Castillo is a musician, composer, producer, DJ, visual artist, stone sculptor, electronic repair technician, and book formatter and publisher. Born in Kansas City, MO, Castillo now lives and works in Valencia, Spain. Castillo creates with the intent to provide his audiences with positive expeirences so that they themselves may be inspired to help construct a more beautiful world.
After graduating from North Kansas City High School in 2010, Robert went on to receive a BA in Jazz Studies in 2014 from North Central College (Naperville, IL). Shortly after, he moved to the West coast where accepted a position with AmeriCorps as the K-8 Music Teacher in Fossil Elementary School Teacher in Fossil, OR (pop. 473). Along with developing his own curriculum, he taught lessons on various instruments including piano, drums, bass, violin, cello, and guitar. Castillo found himself with ample free time in the central Oregon high desert, during which he further developed his meditation practice, began drawing, and composed/arranged music.
Following his time in Fossil, Robert moved to Portland, OR where he founded the groove jazz ensemble The Sextet. Consisting of three horns and three piece rhythm section, The Sextet plays music to move to and be moved by. Much of the music written in Fossil can be heard on their first album “In a Natural State.” When Robert moved back to Kansas City in the Fall of 2016, he reformed the group and released a second album “Blob Castle” in 2017. The Sextet plans to release their third album “Among Friends,” in the Fall of 2019. Aside from The Sextet, Robert performs all over the United States collaborating with musicians of any genre imaginable.
In March 2018 Robert was challenged to create enough visual art to host a show that following December. In January of 2022, he began stone sculpting. In the Spring of 2023, the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art acquired one of his marble sculptures. In 2025, he had his first international exhibition, showing several works in a collective exhibit of Dominican artists in Naples, Italy.
As with music, his style is varied. His subjects include Post-Classic Mayan images, geometric abstraction akin to Kandinsky, and at times incorporates Van Gogh-like impressionistic backgrounds. The mediums he uses include acrylic, watercolor, gouache, and oil. Visual art has become a passion deeper than he could have ever imagined and he has visions to create monumental works.
Robert has been a committee member of the Latino Arts Festival and a mentor for the Latino Arts Foundation. He has also instructed in conjunction with the Art as Mentorship youth music program. Robert also served as Vice President of the Young Professionals board of Cross-Lines Community Outreach, where he was once the Food Pantry Coordinator.
In August of 2023, Castillo moved to Valencia, Spain where received a master’s degree in Artistic Production at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. He is currently living in Kansas City and is planning to move to Guatemala in August 2025 to serve two years with the PeaceCorps as a Youth Development Coordinator.
Robert Castillo 