Javier Caballero
Javier Caballero (Advisory Board) With nearly 20 years of experience as an arts leader, educator, and cellist, Javier Caballero was recently appointed Executive Director of Performing Arts at The Rivers School (Rivers) and the Rivers School Conservatory (RSC), where he will be responsible for strategic vision and administrative oversight of the performing arts at both institutions. Rivers, founded in 1915, is an independent day school serving 525 students from throughout the region. The RSC, one of the nation’s leading community music conservatories, serves approximately 1,000 students in the greater Boston area and is marking its 50th anniversary in 2025.
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Most recently, he was Executive Director of the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music–a nonprofit arts organization in New Hampshire that offers its signature international Summer Chamber Music Workshop and Playing for Peace philosophy focusing on the power of diversity and acceptance.
Mr. Caballero previously served on the senior leadership team at NPR’s From the Top as its Scholarship and Recruitment Manager, leading all aspects of its national admissions department as well as the prominent Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award. He also served as the Artistic Director of Project STEP, a string training program for students from underrepresented communities in classical music. During his tenure, Project STEP visited the White House to receive an award from First Lady Michelle Obama in 2014 and returned in 2016 to perform for a State Dinner with President Obama. In 2017, Javier spoke before the National Endowment for the Arts on Project STEP’s legacy of artistic excellence.
As a cellist, performances have taken him to Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, and he has frequently appeared with various groups, including Shelter Music Boston, Lexington Symphony, Castle of Our Skins, and Lyric Stage Company of Boston. He has also recorded several albums with Middle Eastern, New Age, Balkan, and Indie Rock groups. He has performed with The Beach Boys, Andrea Bocelli, The Eagles, Sarah Brightman, and Diana Ross and the Supremes.
A graduate of the University of South Florida and the Boston Conservatory, Javier has studied with J. Alfredo Carbonell, Scott Kluksdahl, and Rhonda Rider. As educator, he served on the music faculties of Apple Hill, Point Counterpoint, and Boston University Tanglewood Institute’s Junior Strings Intensive summer festivals, New England Conservatory Preparatory School, and the Brookline and Watertown public schools.
Born in Puerto Rico, Javier is a passionate advocate for artistic excellence, music education, and social justice.
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Education
​University of South Florida
Boston Conservatory