Rita Castro Blanco is one of the most promising portuguese conductors of her generation and has had debuts with Orquestra Gulbenkian, Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa, Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa, Orquestra das Beiras, mpmp and Orquestra do Norte. From September 2019 to January 2022 she was Principal Conductor of the Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra.

Furthermore, the young conductor has worked as Assistant Conductor to Nuno Coelho, Joana Carneiro and Clark Rundell. During her studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, she also assisted at the BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Manchester Camerata and Hallé, renowned conductors like Sir Mark Elder, Vasily Petrenko, Elim Chan, John Storgards, Joana Carneiro, Ed Gardner and Simone Young.

Rita Castro Blanco graduated with Distinction from the Master in Music in Performance at the RNCM, under the guidance of Clark Rundell and Mark Heron, after completing the Bachelor Degree in Orchestral Conducting at Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra with Jean-Marc Burfin with exceptional marks.

Since the beginning of her formal studies, Castro Blanco has had the privilege to participate in international masterclasses with Royal Opera House, London Sinfonietta, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and Balthasar Neumann Essemble. In the summers of 2022 and 2021 she was a Conducting Fellow at the Tanglewood Festival, and Conducting Fellowship at the Lucerne Festival, and integrated the new Mentorship for Women Conductors at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.

Her latest engagements include concerts with Lucerne Contemporary Festival Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra and Real Filarmonia de Galícia.