Carlos Miguel Prieto, conductor

Carlos Miguel Prieto was born into a musical family of Spanish and French descent in Mexico City. His charismatic conducting is characterized by its dynamism and the expressivity of his interpretations. He is recognized as a highly influential cultural leader and is the foremost Mexican conductor of his generation. He has been the Music Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, the country’s most important orchestra, since 2007. He was named Music Director of the North Carolina Symphony beginning with the 2023-24 season. He has also been Music Director of the Louisiana Philharmonic since 2006, where he has led the cultural renewal of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. In 2008 he was appointed Music Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería, a hand-picked orchestra which performs a two-month long series of summer programs in Mexico City.

Mr. Prieto’s recent highlights include debuts with the London Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Los Angeles New Music Group, and his returns to the NDR Elbphilharmonie, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Hallé, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, Strasbourg Philharmonic and Auckland Philharmonia. Mr. Prieto is in great demand as a guest conductor with many of the top North American orchestras, including those of Cleveland, Dallas, Toronto and Houston, and has enjoyed a particularly close and successful relationship with the Chicago Symphony.

Since 2002, alongside Gustavo Dudamel, Mr. Prieto has conducted the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, which draws young musicians from the entire American continent. A staunch proponent of music education, Mr. Prieto served as Principal Conductor of the YOA from its inception until 2011 when he was appointed Music Director. In early 2010 he conducted the YOA alongside Valery Gergiev on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the World Economic Forum at Carnegie Hall. In 2018 he conducted the orchestra on a tour of European summer festivals, which included performances at the Rheingau and Edinburgh festivals, as well as Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. He has also worked regularly with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and the NYO2 in New York and Miami Beach.

Mr. Prieto is renowned for championing Latin American music, as well as his dedication to new music. He has conducted over 100 world premieres of works by Mexican and American composers, many of which were commissioned by him.

Mr. Prieto has an extensive discography that covers labels including Naxos and Sony. Recent Naxos recordings include Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 & Études tableaux, Op. 33, with Boris Giltburg and the RSNO, which won a 2018 Opus Klassik award and was listed as a 2017 Gramophone’s Critics’ Choice, and a recording of Korngold’s Violin Concerto with violinist Philippe Quint and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería, which received two Grammy nominations. His recording of the Elgar and Finzi violin concertos with Ning Feng was released on Channel Classics in 2018.

A graduate of Princeton and Harvard universities, Mr. Prieto studied conducting with Jorge Mester, Enrique Diemecke, Charles Bruck and Michael Jinbo.

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Carlos Miguel Prieto nació en una familia musical de ascendencia española y francesa en la Ciudad de México. Su carismática dirección orquestal está caracterizada por su dinamismo y la expresividad de sus interpretaciones. Es reconocido como un líder cultural de gran influencia y es el principal director de orquesta mexicano de su generación. Ha sido el Director Musical de la Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, la orquesta más importante del país, desde 2007. Fue nombrado Director de la Sinfónica de North Carolina comenzando en la temporada 2023-24. También se ha desempeñado como Director Musical de la Filarmónica de Luisiana desde 2006, donde ha liderado la renovación cultural de New Orleans tras el huracán Katrina. En 2008 fue nombrado Director Musical de la Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería, una orquesta cuidadosamente seleccionada que realiza una serie de programas de verano de dos meses en la Ciudad de México.

Entre sus más recientes trabajos se destacan sus debuts con la Filarmónica de Londres, Minnesota Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, BBC National Orchestra de Gales y Los Angeles Music Group, y su regreso a la NDR Elbphilharmonie, Frankfurt Symphony, Halle, Royal Liverpool Phiharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, Strasbourg Phirharmonic y Auckland Philharmonia. Carlos Miguel Prieto es altamente solicitado como director invitado de muchas de las mejores orquestas de América del Norte, incluyendo las de Cleveland, Dallas, Toronto y Houston, y ha mantenido una relación particularmente cercana y exitosa con la Sinfónica de Chicago.

Desde 2002, junto a Gustavo Dudamel,  Prieto ha dirigido la Youth Orchestra of the Americas (YOA)(Orquesta Juvenil de las Américas), que atrae a músicos jóvenes de todo el continente americano. Un defensor acérrimo de la educación musical, se desempeñó como Director Principal de la YOA desde su formación hasta 2011 cuando fue designado Director Musical. A principios de 2010 dirigió la YOA junto a Valery Gergiev con motivo del 40 aniversario del Foro Económico Mundial en Carnegie Hall. En 2018 dirigió la orquesta en un tour de programas de verano europeos, el cual incluyó presentaciones en los festivales de Rheingau y Edimburgo, así como en la Elbphilharmonie de Hamburgo. También ha trabajado regularmente con la National Youth Orchestra (Orquesta Nacional Juvenil) de Gran Bretaña y la NYO2 en Nueva York y Miami Beach.

Carlos Miguel Prieto es reconocido por abogar por la música latinoamericana,  así como por su dedicación a la música nueva. Ha dirigido más de 100 estrenos mundiales de obras de compositores mexicanos y estadounidenses, muchas de las cuales fueron comisionadas por él.

Posee una extensa discografía que cubre sellos como Naxos y Sony. Grabaciones recientes con Naxos incluyen el Concierto No. 2 para piano de Rachmaninov y Etudes tableaux, Op. 33, con Boris Giltburg y la RSNO, la cual ganó un premio Opus Klassil en 2018 y fue catalogada como Gramophone’s Critics Choice en 2017;  y una grabación del Concierto para  violín de Korngold con el violinista Philip Quint y la Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería, la cual recibió dos nominaciones al Grammy. Su grabación de los conciertos para violín de Elgar y Finzi con Ning Feng fue lanzada en Channel Classics en 2018.

Graduado de Princeton y Harvard, Prieto estudio dirección orquestal con Jorge Mester, Enrique Diemecke, Charles Bruck y Michael Jinbo.

Pacho Flores, trumpet

Pacho Flores was awarded first prize in the Maurice André International Contest, the most renowned trumpet contest in the world, as well as first prize in the Philip Jones International Contest and first prize in the Cittá di Porcia International contest. Trained in the marvelous Orchestra System for Youth and Children in Venezuela, he received top recognition for his performances, recitals and recordings as a soloist.

Capable of managing classical or popular styles indistinctively, Mr. Flores adds to his captivating interpretations a great deal of energy tinged with the most beautiful instrumental colors. Acting as soloist, he has performed with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Kiev, Camerata from St. Petesbourg, Orchestral Ensemble from Paris, Orchestre de la Garde Républicaine, NHK Orchestra from Japan, Symphony Orchestra of Tokio, Philharmonic Orchestra of Osaka, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra from Venezuela, Symphony Orchestra of Dusseldorf and the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra, amongst many others. He has also given recitals in concert halls such as Carnegie Hall in New York, Pleyel Hall in Paris and the Opera City in Tokio. Serving as one of the founding members of the Simón Bolívar Brass Quintet, he has taken part in numerous tours around Europe, South America, United States and Japan.

Experienced orchestral musician, Mr. Flores has held the leading trumpet position in the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, Saito Kinen Orchestra from Japan and the Symphony Orchestra of Miami, under the musical direction of Maestros like Claudio Abbado, Sir Simon Rattle, Seiji Ozawa, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Rafael Frübeck of Burgos, Eduardo Marturet and Gustavo Dudamel, including many others. Founding Director of the Latin-American Trumpet Academy in Venezuela, he fosters a promising generation of young talents.

Mr. Flores is extremely keen on promoting contemporary music and does so providing important contributions by means of the performance and interpretation of his instrument. His repertoire includes commissions and premieres of works by composers such as Roger Boutry, Efraín Oscher, Giancarlo Castro, Santiago Báez, Juan Carlos Nuñez and Sergio Bernal. Recently he has carried out an important concert tour across Norway and Austria with the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Maestro and Composer Christian Lindberg; interpreting his concert Akbank Bunka, a piece for trumpet and orchestra; making his debut at the Fiestpielhaus of Salzburg and at the Musikverein of Vienna. His first album La Trompeta venezolana was released by the record label Guataca Producciones.

As an artist from the Stomvi family, Mr. Flores plays instruments that have been exclusively manufactured for him by this renowned firm, and is actively involved in the developments and innovations of his instruments. He is a Deutsche Grammophon exclusive artist with already three recordings, Cantar with Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin and Christian Vásquez; Entropía, Gold Medal of the Global Music Awards; Fractales with Arctic Philharmonic and Christian Lindberg; and the double CD-DVD Cantos y Revueltas with Real Filharmonía de Galicia and Manuel Hernández-Silva.

Leo Rondón, cuatro

Venezuelan Cuatro player Leo Rondón won third place in La Siembra del Cuatro competition in 2007, second place in 2012 and, in 2011, second place in El Silbón and San Martín. After teaching cuatro, music theory and double bass at Merida School of Music (2003-07), he has been an arranger of the Orquesta Típica Merideña (a venezuelan orchestra), a cuatro and double bass player at the String Ensamble at the University of Los Andes and an arranger and composer for the 5 Numerao ensamble. Since 2013 he has lived in Paris.

During the summer in France, Mr. Rondón develops a summer academy of Venezuelan music with a group of Venezuelan musicians. He has played in important halls and festivals in Venezuela, Colombia, Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Sweden, United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherlands and Morocco as a soloist or accompanying important musicians such as Cristobal Soto, Ricardo Sandoval, Alexis Cardenas, Huascar Barradas, Luis Julio Toro, José Antonio Naranjo, Orlando Moret and Cecilia Todd, among others.

Mr. Rondón works in many musical projects involving both Venezuelan and French talents. As a soloist, he has created the Leo Rondón Project, which allows him to interpret his compositions and arrangements and to make music with invited musicians from all around the world. He is also the musical director of Waraira Quartet, a group created in 2015 with the aim of spreading Venezuelan music in Europe. He plays also with Recoveco and Sandoval 4tet, groups that integrate great performers such as Alexis Cárdenas, Ricardo Sandoval and Roberto Koch. Along with Maestro Cristobal Soto, a well-known Venezuelan mandolinist, Mr. Rondón teaches courses in cuatro, double bass, guitar, mandolin, tiple and composition at the headquarters of the Association Sonar in Paris.

Mr. Rondón plays a cuatro tailored made by the French Luthier Mathias Caron. 

Molly Turner, conductor

Molly Turner is a Chinese-born conductor and composer. Recently, she has conducted the Orchestre de Paris, Gstaad Festival Orchestra, Theater Orchester Biel Solothurn, Juilliard Orchestra, Dallas Opera Orchestra, Primrose International Viola Competition, Colburn Orchestra and Eastern Festival Orchestra. Highlights of the 2022-23 season included a debut with San Francisco Symphony's SoundBox Series, a Concert Scolaire with Orchestre de Paris, conducting the premiere of her own new orchestra work with the Tacoma Youth Symphony, Colburn Chamber Music Society with David Rejano and Cosi! Men Are Like That with opera company White Snake Projects. She has served as assistant conductor for the Berliner Philharmoniker, Orchestre de Paris, San Francisco Symphony, Utah Symphony, San Diego Symphony, National Polish Radio Symphony, Juilliard Orchestra and Colburn Orchestra. In 2019 she was the youngest conductor invited for residency at the Dallas Opera’s Hart Institute for Women Conductors. She has assisted Esa-Pekka Salonen, David Robertson, Stéphane Denève, Yaniv Dinur, Rafael Payare, Nicholas McGegan and Jeffrey Milarsky.

Ms. Turner is a devoted advocate for contemporary and modern music. She has collaborated with many living composers including Paul Novak, Max Vinetz, Lauren Vandervelden, Corey Chang, Sujin Kang, Webster Gadbois and Sofia Ouyang and has a strong affinity for the music of Stravinsky, Bartók and Lutosławski. She is a member of the Colburn Contemporary Ensemble and has conducted works by Lou Harrison, Timo Andres and Nina Young with them. As part of Juilliard’s ChoreoComp, Ms. Turner premiered four different dance pieces created by current student composers and choreographers and at Rice, she conducted and composed for Hear&Now: New Music.

 Pursuing projects outside of the traditional concert hall is a core part of Ms. Turner’s artistic identity. In 2021 she performed an open improvisation set on violin alongside Pablo O’Connell, Kebra-Seyoun Charles and Ryan Jung in an Alice Tully Hall window performance. While she was a Teaching Artist Fellow at Juilliard, she was involved in creating an improvisatory work that used K-8 student “found sound” recordings as source material. From 2017-19 was the artistic director for New Art / New Music at the Moody Center for the Arts. There she worked with composers and visual artists to curate a concert of new works that were site-specific to current exhibitions at the Moody Center. In 2017 she played viola in a multimedia performance art project alongside Angelbet Metoyer creating art live, Saul Williams reciting poetry and other musicians openly improvising.  In 2015 she co-wrote a graphic score with Sarah Grace-Graves for sculptor Katie Grinnan’s Astrology Orchestra written for the Turrell Skypsace.

In her own music, Ms. Turner is interested in the balance between strictly dictated elements and more aleatoric notation. Her relationship to the standard repertoire is often integrated in subtle ways beneath the foreground of the music. A violinist and violist herself, she finds string instruments endlessly fascinating. Improvisation is a core part of her writing process and she often starts her work as voice memos or graphic scores. In 2018 her string quartet, The Shapes of Stories, was read by the Arditti Quartet. Her work has been heard in Benaroya Hall, Duncan Recital Hall, the Moody Center for the Arts and has been privately recorded.  

She completed her master’s degree in orchestral conducting at The Juilliard School studying with David Robertson and received a bachelor in music composition cum laude from Rice University. She recently was pursuing an artist diploma at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, where she studied under the guidance of Esa-Pekka Salonen in the Negaunee Conducting Program as a Salonen Fellow. She has studied composition with Kurt Stallmann, Arthur Gottschalk, Karim Al-Zand and Richard Lavenda. She has attended the Gstaad Festival Conducting Academy where she worked with Johannes Schlaefli, Jaap van Zweden and Baldur Brönnimann and the Eastern Music Festival, where she worked with Gerard Schwarz. In her free time, she enjoys biking, playing Ultimate Frisbee and reading.