AMERICAS - Key Persons

Abel Pacheco

Job Titles:

President of Costa Rica ( 2002 - 2006 )

Alejandra is the 2020 recipient of the Mahler Award given by the Mahler Society of Mexico, which has been also granted to Sir Simon Rattle, Bernard Haitink and Gustavo Dudamel, among others. In 2021 she has been chosen finalist of the Only Stage International Conducting Competition (UK) and of the Lanyi Conducting Competition 2021 (Serbia) and will also make her debut with the Biel Solothurn Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland. Alejandra Urrutia is Music Director of the Chamber Orchestra of Teatro Municipal de Santiago - National Opera of Chile. She was Music Director of the Chilean Chamber Orchestra and, previously, the Provincial Symphony Orchestra of Santa Fe, Argentina, for three years. She is also the Artistic and Music Director of the Portillo International Music Festival - Academy and the Grand Concert for Brotherhood (Gran Concierto por la Hermandad). She is Resident Conductor of the Orchestra of the Americas. Since 2017 she has been assistant conductor to Maestro Ivan Fischer with the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. In January 2019 after many years working with the youth orchestra of Curanilahue and observing the transformation that music has in the lives of young musicians, their families and the community, Alejandra launched one of the most innovative projects in Chile: the Portillo International Music Festival & Academy, an initiative for the instruction of young musicians in the majestic Andes Mountains. The Academy focuses on learning the chamber music repertoire under the guidance of international teachers, in addition to classes of leadership, coaching and hatha-yoga for promoting a holistic development of Latin America's great talents. As creator and conductor of the Grand Concert for Brotherhood, Alejandra brings together more than 150 instrumentalists and a citizen choir of more than 200 people every year under the motto "Music as a common territory" for this beautiful project born as a message of unity with our immigrant brothers and sisters in Chile. In January 2020, after conducting Gustav Mahler's Second Symphony, "Resurrection", Alejandra received the Mahler Award 2020 given by the Mahler Society of Mexico. Born in Concepción, Chile, she studied with famous maestros such as Robert Spano and Hugh Wolff at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen, as well as in courses with Marin Alsop, Kenneth Kiesler, Gustav Meier, Hans Graf, Larry Radcleff and Murry Sidlin. She has worked internationally as conductor, violinist and educator with a bachelor and doctorate from the University of Michigan. Alejandra Urrutia is a Fanjul & Ward artist.

Alfonso Portillo

Job Titles:

President of Guatemala

Andrés Pastrana

Job Titles:

President of Colombia ( 1998 - 2002 )

Antonio Tornero

Job Titles:

Guest Conductor

Antonio Tornero is the Music Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Juvenil del Estado de Veracruz (Youth Symphony Orchestra of the state of Veracruz) and the General Director of the Superior Institute of music of the state of Veracruz in Xalapa, México. Maestro Tornero received his training in the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory of Music in Lenningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia. He has served as Assistant Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in Mexico City, where he worked with Eduard van Remortel, Charles Dutoit, George Sebastian Mata, and Eduardo Mata, among others. He has appeared with orchestras in the United States, Cuba, Argentina, Colombia, El Salvador, Czech Republic, England, Bulgaria, Germany, Russia, and the Phillipines.

Benjamin Zander

Job Titles:

Guest Conductor

Benjamin Zander has been the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) since its formation twenty-five years ago. To celebrate the orchestra's 25th Anniversary in 2003-2004, the BPO will perform an all-Mahler season, including a performance of Mahler's Second Symphony in Carnegie Hall. Over the last decade, Benjamin Zander has been a guest conductor all over the world, appearing frequently with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London. In 2002 Mr. Zander made his debut with the Israel Philharmonic, and returned to conduct four performances of Mahler's Third Symphony with the orchestra in 2003.

Carlos Miguel Prieto

Job Titles:

Music Director

Musical America's 2019 Conductor of the Year, Carlos Miguel Prieto has led acclaimed performances with orchestras throughout the Americas and Europe. Since 2005, Prieto has been Music Director of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, which he led in its Carnegie Hall debut in February 2018. Prieto's 2019/2020 season includes debuts with the Utah Symphony Orchestra and returns to NDR Elbphilharmonie, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, The Juilliard Orchestra, Orquesta del Principado de Asturias, and BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Past seasons have included appearances with Detroit Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, The Hallé, London Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra (Washington DC), and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, among others. Music Director of Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México and Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería, Prieto has commissioned and conducted over 100 works by Mexican and Latin American composers. Prieto's discography includes Pan-American Reflections, featuring works by Copland and Chávez, a Grammy-nominated recording of Korngold's Violin Concerto, and a 12-DVD set of the complete Mahler symphonies. Prieto was The Orchestra of the Americas' first Music Director from 2002 until 2011, when he was appointed Music Director. In summer 2020, Prieto will lead the orchestra on tour in Panama and lead Carnegie Hall's NYO-USA for the first time. A graduate of of Princeton University and Harvard Business School, Prieto holds an honorary doctorate from Loyola University New Orleans.

Christopher Wilkins

Job Titles:

Director of the Orlando Philharmonic
Guest Conductor

Christopher Wilkins was appointed Music Director of the Orlando Philharmonic in the fall of 2005. Under his leadership, it has become a priority to partner with artists and organizations throughout the central Florida area, including Orlando Ballet, Orlando Opera, Mad Cow Theatre, the "Negro Spiritual" Scholarship Foundation, and the Orlando Museum of Art. He has also worked with both of this city's principal youth orchestras, and with music students throughout the area, especially the vocal students of Jones High School. In addition to the Orlando Philharmonic, Wilkins serves as Music Director of the Akron Symphony in Ohio.

César Gaviria

Job Titles:

President of Colombia ( 1990 - 1994 )

David Johnston

Job Titles:

Governor General of Canada

David Robert Coleman

Job Titles:

Associate
Guest Conductor

As of September 2006 David Robert Coleman is associate conductor and assistant to Maestro Kent Nagano at the Bavarian State Opera Munich. In autumn 2009 he made his debut with the Bavarian State Orchestra in two ballet productions, "Chamber Symphony" and "Der Sturm". Other important upcoming events include a debut with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (OSM) in April 2008 in a concert that will see the premiere of a new piece of his for clarinet and orchestra written for Robert Crowley. David Robert Coleman is also undertaking a tour with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie to Mexico in spring 2008 for a series concerts, one of which will be televised from the Teatro Bellas Artes. The repertoire includes Brahm's 4th Symphony and Penderecki's viola concerto. Since 2004 David Robert Coleman has worked closely with YOA Orchestra of the Americas. He has conducted YOA in Venezuela, Brazil, and Argentina.

Diego Naser

Job Titles:

Guest Conductor

Chief Conductor of Uruguay's renowned National Symphony Orchestra OSSODRE, Diego Naser is one of the most active conductors today. He has conducted ballet and opera productions including The Rite of Spring, Carnival Der Tiere, Peter and the Wolf, El Quijote del Plata, Carmina Burana, La Sylphide, Telémaco nell' Isola di Calipso (premiere in Spain), and Madama Butterfly, as well as symphonic concerts in Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Panama, Portugal, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela, among others. Naser has worked with artists including Pinchas Zukerman, Amanda Forsyth, Gustavo Núñez, Homero Francesch, Francesca Dego, Carlo Ventre, and Michael Barenboim, among others. He conducted the Murcia Symphony Orchestra in Spain and soloist Àlex Garrobé for a CD recording of new guitar pieces by Italian composer Simone Iannarelli. Naser was previously a violist in the Kiel Philharmonic, Hamburger Camerata, NDR Orchester Hamburg, and a violinist in the Vienna Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra and West Eastern Divan Orchestra led by Daniel Barenboim. He has performed in prominent music festivals worldwide including the Salzburg Festspiele, Luzern Festspiele, Waldbühne Berlin, and BBC Proms London. During the 2020 season, Naser works with Carlo Ventre, Shlomo Mintz, and Stefan Dohr, among others. He is a Thomastik-Infeld Vienna Official Artist.

Elisa Vegas

Job Titles:

Guest Conductor

Elisa Vegas is one of the most outstanding orchestra directors of the emerging Venezuelan generation. From 2005-2017, she was the music director of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Chacao, and since October 2017, has been the Artistic Director of the Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho Symphony Orchestra. She studied at the Central University of Venezuela and at the Canford School of Music in England with teachers Rodolfo Saglimbeni, George Hurst, and Robert Houlihan. She has guest conducted many prominent orchestras in Venezuela, accompanying soloists including Alexander Krichel, Alexis Cárdenas, Guiomar Narváez, and Belén Roig. She also works in the production and artistic direction of operas and zarzuelas in Caracas, has performed in the National Symphony Orchestra of Guatemala's gala, and premieres the opera, ballet, and zarzuela seasons of Teatro de Chacao in Caracas.

Fernando Henrique Cardoso

Job Titles:

President of Brazil ( 1995 - 2003 )

George W. Bush

Job Titles:

President of the United States ( 2001 - 2009 )

Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada

Job Titles:

President of Bolivia ( 1993 - 1997 )

Hobart Earle

Job Titles:

Director of the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra

Music Director of the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra, Hobart Earle has elevated the orchestra to a position of international prominence, unprecedented in the history of the organization, performing in such concert halls as the Musikverein (Vienna), Barbican Hall (London), Orchestra Hall in Chicago, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Carnegie Hall, and the Kennedy Center. He has led such orchestras as the Vienna Tonkuenstler, Noord-Nederlands Orkest, Bilbao Symphony, Orchestra della Toscana and Sinfonica Siciliana, Buffalo and Florida Philharmonics, North Carolina and Miami Symphony Orchestras, Taipei Symphony and such major Russian institutions as the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Russian National Orchestra. In the opera pit, he has led productions with the Ukrainian and Greek National Operas, and has recorded with the Russian State Symphony and Odessa Philharmonic for Naxos and Toccata Records.