A graduate of the prestigious Berklee College of Music, major in Jazz Composition/Arranging with piano as principal instrument, Socorro de Castro's music career is backed by many years of live and recording studio experience. Originally from Manila, Philippines, she started playing the piano at the age of three, was classically trained beginning at 4, had her first recital when she was 5 and wrote her first composition at 9 years old, then began a long line of performances as a solo artist as well as a member of different bands, singing groups and choirs, while expanding her interests in other keyboards.
Socorro captured the Grand Prix in the INTERNATIONAL YAMAHA ELECTONE GRAND PRIX CONCOURSE in Japan representing the U.S.A. after winning First Prize in the NATIONAL YAMAHA ELECTONE ORGAN FESTIVAL in Houston, Texas at age 23. She went on to do concert tours in her home country upon the invitation of the Philippine Government in association with the Department of Tourism and back in the US as a Yamaha artist. Upon returning to Manila in the 80's, she subsequently gained recognition as composer/arranger/producer/musical director/accompanist for such top artists of the country as Fourplay, Apo Hiking Society, Gary Valenciano, Kuh Ledesma, Joey Albert, Zsa Zsa Padilla, Sharon Cuneta, Martin Nievera and Pops Fernandez and more.
Now a California resident since the 90s, Socorro, along with her husband, keyboardist Norman Landsberg, run Landsberg Music Productions, a full service music production company providing music direction, compositions and arrangements for album productions, live performances, as well as scoring for commercials and films such as Ramona S. Diaz’ award-winning documentary, Spirits Rising, applying her skills in Film Scoring she took at UCLA. Her husband is also part of America's top piano duo, Landsberg & Yount. He has just come out with his new cd, Manny Moka, a latin funk jazz album featuring some of bay area's top musicians including some members from the band, Santana. Because of their association with the finest musicians in the San Francisco bay area, Socorro and Norman are often called upon to provide bands for visiting top Filipino artists like Regine Velasquez, Ariel Rivera, Janno Gibbs, Ogie Alcasid, Jose Mari Chan and more.
Socorro recently had the distinction of writing singer/songwriter Ogie Alcasid's first english hit song, "HELLO", and being musical director of the Filipino Women's Network (FWN) production of award-winning playwright Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues from 2004-2007 in San Francisco and in NY in 2006 upon the invitation of the author herself for the 10th anniversary of the show. In 2008, she was invited to perform at the 3rd Philippine International Jazz Festival in Manila with an array of international jazz artists including Lee Ritenour, Omar Sosa and Incognito. She also performed with the world-famous Kruger Brothers at the Bluegrass Festival, "Carolina in the Fall" along with country, bluegrass, folk music legends of the country. In 2009, her jazz trio performed at the 2nd Annual SF Philippine-American Jazz Festival. Recently, she joined a roster of top jazz artists in Manila at the JAM FOR JAPAN Fundraising Concert for the earthquake relief in Japan. She is currently working on a new cd of original music and other projects. Her new instrumental single entitled "The Audacity of Hope", a tribute to President Barack Obama, is available now on cdbaby.com, and iTunes joining her already released original album, "SOCORRO" on lamp88 records.