Oto Carrillo was appointed to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) horn section by Daniel Barenboim in 2000. A native of Guatemala, Carrillo grew up in Chicago admiring the CSO and its wonderful horn section while receiving a Bachelor’s degree in music performance from DePaul University and a Master’s degree in both music performance and musicology from Northwestern University. His teachers were Jon Boen, principal horn of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Gail Williams, retired associate principal horn of the CSO.

After graduating, he won positions with the Memphis and Cedar Rapids (Orchestra Iowa) orchestras, and was able to continue playing in Chicago for two seasons as a member of the Civic Orchestra, coached by the legendary principal horn of the CSO, Dale Clevenger. He has played guest principal with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México and guest associate principal with the Utah Symphony. Oto has also performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Metropolitana Orchestra of Lisbon, Portugal as well as having had featured roles in Chicago based ensembles such as the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Chicago Philharmonic, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Music of the Baroque, where he is now principal horn. In addition, Oto has played in various summer festivals with such orchestras as the National Repertory Orchestra, the National Orchestral Institute, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, the Grant Park Orchestra, the Mostly Mozart Festival in Woodstock, Illinois, and the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra.

Prior to his appointment to the CSO, Carrillo held positions in the South Bend and Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestras. Oto has collaborated with numerous chamber groups such as Civitas, Dempster Street Pro Musica, The Chicago Chamber Musicians, and as a member of the Millar Brass, Athenaeum Ensemble, and the International Chamber Artists. Recently, Oto gave a series of recitals in Vancouver, Canada where he also played with musicians of Vetta Chamber Music. Carrillo has been a soloist with various groups in and outside Chicago performing works by Bach, Strauss, Mozart, Britten, and Gliere as well as giving the Chicago premiere of Augusta Read Thomas’ Silver Chants The Litanies for horn and chamber orchestra. He has collaborated with his colleagues in the CSO horn section to perform Schumann’s Konzertstücke For Four Horns with the Chicago Youth Symphony, the Civic Orchestra, and most recently, the CSO.

As an instructor, Carrillo has given many master classes across the United States and around the globe. He has been on faculty at DePaul University since 2003 and in 2013 was awarded their Distinguished Alumnus Award. In addition, he served as the horn professor for 10 years at the Pacific Regional International Summer Music Academy (PRISMA) in British Columbia. Outside of playing horn, Oto enjoys savoring and occasionally brewing excellent craft beer, woodworking, playing sports of all types, traveling to beautiful places in this country and around the world (he currently has visited 56 of the 63 National Parks), and the company of his wife Sarah, a free-lance trumpet player, and their two adult children, Lucas and Isabelle.