Lester Alexis Chio Alonso

Lester begins his musical studies at the Conservatory "Guillermo Tomás" in his native Guanabacoa. A few years later he obtains his diplomas in Clarinet and Chamber Music. In 1996 he enters the Instituto Superior de Artes (ISA) and subsequently travels to Colombia where he is appointed principal clarinetist of the Sinfónica de Cali orchestra and Professor of the Conservatorio de Bellas Artes.

In the year 2000, he arrives in France to continue his musical studies and enters the Advanced Training Program of the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris (CNR), in Richard Vieille's Clarinet class, as well as in the Orchestra and Chamber Music Department.

Lester Chio is an award winner of National and International Competitions such as the "Amadeo Roldán" in Cuba where he obtains 2 first prizes and at the Pyongyang Festival in Korea, winning a first prize and the Gold Cup.

He has been part of the World Orchestra and the French Youth Orchestra, with whom he performed a concert tour presenting himself in prestigious halls such as La Philharmonie de Berlin, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Opera in Oslo, etc.

In France, he has been a member of various ensembles including the Ensemble Sortie d'Artistes, the Opera de Rouen, Les Siècles, the Baroque Ensemble of Toulouse, etc., as well as in co-productions of operas by Kurt Weill with the Opera de Lyon, l'Orchestre des Pays de Savoie, in residencies in several French cities and at the Comédie-Française in Paris, being nominated for the Molières in 2009-2010.

In 2012 he was invited to the Kamermuziekfestival accompanied by soloists from l'orchestre philharmonique de Rotterdam, in Holland.

Lester Alexis CHIO has been a member of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) since 1998. In 2015 he obtains the service award from the Rotary Club, for his pedagogical work and involvement in the creation of artistic projects and cultural cooperation between France and Latin America, such as the Havana National Clarinet Competition and the different pedagogical exchanges with Colombia.

He is currently a clarinet professor at the G. Charpentier Conservatory in the city of Paris and in St Cloud.

Lester Chio is a Vandoren artist, and is sponsored in many of his events by Buffet Crampon, with whom he works as an artistic advisor for Latin America.

Regularly invited to festivals in France, Cuba, Colombia and Mexico, he develops a very active career as a concert artist closely linked to pedagogy and musical training projects.