CRISTINA PATO
Galician Bagpipes, Piano
Educator, Writer, & Producer
Musician, writer, educator, and producer, Cristina Pato, has been hailed as “a virtuosic burst of energy” by The New York Times. After 25 years of experience as a professional musician, touring around the world with the Galician bagpipes and piano, Cristina now channels her creativity into writing, producing, and teaching, focusing on the role of the arts in society.
Cristina has served as a visiting professor and artist-in-residence at New York University (NYU), Harvard University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara. Additionally, she collaborated for over fifteen years with The Silkroad Project, the non-profit organization founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Since 2017, Cristina writes a weekly column titled “The Art of Restlessness” for Spanish newspaper La Voz de Galicia for which she was awarded the XVII Afundación Journalism Prize: Fernández del Riego. In 2022 she published her debut novel “No día do seu enterro” (“On His Burial Day”) with Editorial Galaxia (Colección Literaria, 2022), now in its third edition.
Cristina divides her time between New York City and Galicia and shares her life with photographer Xan Padrón.