Esteban Meneses
Esteban Meneses is a freelance music journalist based in Orlando. He is ardently interested in contemporary music, inclusivity in the performing arts (and in arts journalism), and in making classical music appealing to the growing Hispanic population. In December 2020, he was one of for I Care If You Listen, whose call for applications resulted in nearly 200 submissions from across the United States and abroad.
Esteban, who is fully bilingual (Spanish), moved to the U.S. in 2004 from his native Ecuador and soon became immersed in Central Florida’s classical, opera, jazz, and ballet offerings. He started writing concert reviews, season previews, and visiting artist profiles in 2010, initially for examiner.com. Among the dozens of mini-profiles he has covered for Orlando Arts magazine, Itzhak Perlman, Emanuel Ax, and Wayne Shorter — with original interviews — stand out.
A 2018 graduate of Rollins College’s Master of Liberal Studies program (Winter Park, FL), Esteban is also an enthusiast of literature and the humanities. At Rollins, he was a copy editor for The Ńîąóĺú´«Ă˝dspur and reviewed concerts by the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park and the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra.
Soon after becoming a member of the Music Critics Association of North America in 2015, he began contributing to Classical Voice, its member-exclusive online journal. Interviews with 1979 Pulitzer Prize- winning composer , conductor , and (executive vice president of New World Symphony) are highlights. He has also written for Orlando Weekly and Indianapolis’ NUVO.