Bio

Giuseppe Gallo-Balma is a native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and a Kansas City based composer.  He began his musical studies at age eleven on flute. His private teacher motivated him to audition for the National Conservatory, where he enrolled in 2008 and studied with Andrés Guzmán. After his studies in the Dominican Republic, Gallo-Balma studied in the U.S. at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University where he earned a Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance under the tutelage of Dr. Andrée Martin, and a Composition Certificate under the tutelage of Dr. James Ogburn. He also earned a Master in Music Composition at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory where he studied with Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Paul Rudy and Yotam Haber.

He has served as principal flute for the Juan Pablo Duarte Youth Orchestra and piccolo player for the National Symphony Orchestra of Santo Domingo. As a composer, Gallo-Balma’s music has been performed by JACK Quartet, Transient Canvas, and Re(a)d trio, NewEar, and has been featured on the radio show Sound Currents (KCUR/NPR). In 2023, he was selected as a Featured Artist for the EarShot Readings with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for his piece “The Bones of Yayael”.  In 2018, he won second place at state level of the MTNA Composition Competition for his piece,“Cuarteto”. Gallo-Balma has also been invited to participate in several national and international summer festivals.

As the son of Haitian and Italian immigrants raised in the Dominican Republic, Gallo-Balma's music seeks to bring an amalgamation of these three distinct cultures to the foreground, with special interest in the musical aspects of Indigenous and Afro-Caribbean communities.