Pacho Flores with the Philharmonique de Strasbourg and K. Karabits

Pacho Flores with the Philharmonique de Strasbourg and K. Karabits

Pacho Flores debuts with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg next Friday, September the 27th, at the KKL of Lucerne, with the Concerto for trumpet and orchestra by Henri Tomasi, conducted by Kirill Karabits. Pacho has just arrived from Cracow, where he played works by Lindberg, Piazzolla and Arturo Márquez with the Beethoven Academy Orchestra conducted by Lee Reynolds; and after Lucerne Pacho is going to Fort Worth, Texas, to participate in the Latin American Music Festival, organised by the Texas Christian University, where Pacho will teach, play recitals, chamber music and concert con orchestra .

Pacho Flores is a first-prize winner of the Maurice André International Competition, the world’s most important trumpet contest, as well as the first prize at the International Competition Philip Jones and First Prize at the International Competition Citta di Porcia. Recently he was awarded with the Gold Medal by the Global Music Awards for ENTROPÍA, his last recording for Deutsche Grammophon with guitar player Jesús ‘Pingüino’ González. A product of the ground-breaking ‘El Sistema’, he is becoming increasingly recognized for his outstanding performing and recording activity that spans the solo, chamber, and orchestral media. Equally at home in the classical and folk styles, Pacho captivates audiences with his energetic delivery and colourful tone.

D. Freiberg, A. Márquez, P. D'Rivera, P. Flores y C. M. Prieto durante la grabación de Mestizo para Deutsche Grammophon

D. Freiberg, A. Márquez, P. D’Rivera, P. Flores and C. M. Prieto during the recording of Mestizo for Deutsche Grammophon

His solo performances include appearances with orchestras such as Turku Philharmonic, Arctic Philharmonic, Norrköping Symphony, Norddeutschen Philharmonie Rostock, Salzburger Philharmoniker, Kiev Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Camerata, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, NHK Symphony, Tokyo Symphony, Osaka Philharmonic, Kymi Sinfonietta, Het Gelders Orchestra, Tucson Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, , Orquesta de RTVE, Hyogo PAC Orchestra, Sinfónica Nacional de México, Sinfónica Nacional de Puerto Rico, Filarmónica de Málaga, Sinfónica de Baleares, Real Filharmonía de Galicia, Sinfónica de Bilbao, Sinfónica de Tenerife, Stavanger Orchestra, Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, Orquesta del Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires, Oviedo Filarmonía or Simón Bolívar Orchestra of Venezuela. In recital, he has performed in venues such as the New York Carnegie Hall, the Paris Salle Pleyel and the Tokyo Opera City. Next engagements include the, Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Basel Symphonieorchester, Orchestre National de Lille, Sinfónica de Navarra, San Diego Symphony, National Orchestra of the Polish Radio, Sinfónica do Estado de São Paulo or Swedish Chamber Orchestra.

Pacho Flores y Paquito D'Rivera grabando   el Concerto Venezolano de D'Rivera

Pacho Flores and Paquito D’Rivera recording D’Rivera’s Concerto Venezolano

A founding member of the Venezuelan Simón Bolívar Brass Quintet, he has toured with the quintet extensively in Europe, South America, the United States, and Japan. An experienced orchestral musician, Mr. Flores has played first trumpet in the Simón Bolívar Orchestra of Venezuela, the Saito Kinen Orchestra, and the Miami Symphony, under the direction of Claudio Abbado, Sir Simon Rattle, Seiji Ozawa, Giusseppe Sinopoli, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, and Gustavo Dudamel, among others. A founding director of the Latin American Trumpet Academy in Caracas, he mentors a promising generation of budding musicians and is a frequent guest at conservatories in Finland, Spain, France, Japan, and Latin America, as permanent jury member in prestigious international competitions. Pacho Flores is an avid champion of new music and is bringing about important innovations to trumpet performance and fabrication. His repertoire includes commissions and premieres of works by composers such as Roger Boutry, Efraín Oscher, Giancarlo Castro, Santiago Báez, Juan Carlos Nuñez, Sergio Bernal, Arturo Márquez, Roberto Sierra or Paquito D’Rivera. His first album La trompeta Venezolana has been released by the label GUATACA Producciones.

A Stomvi artist, he performs with instruments tailored specially for him by this prestigious firm and actively participates in the development and innovation of their instruments. Pacho Flores 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 2017 and Melómano de Oro; and Fractales, with the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra and Christian Lindberg, Gold Medal of the Global Music Awards 2019. Next releases are Cantos y Revueltas, with the Real Filharmonía de Galicia and Manuel Hernández-Silva, and Mestizo, with the Sinfónica de Minería and Carlos MIguel Prieto.

 

 

 

Ira Levin, Maestro Titular in Rio de Janeiro

Ira Levin, Maestro Titular in Rio de Janeiro

Ira Levin has been named as the new ‘Maestro Titular’ (Music Director) of the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, effective immediately. This happens after a hugely successful production of Gounod’s Faust and concerts with tenors Vittorio Grigolo and Michael Fabiano. The TMRJ is the largest opera house in Brazil and the second largest in South America after the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, where Levin was the principal guest conductor from 2011 to 2015. He was also the artistic and music director of the Teatro Municipal in Sao Paulo from 2002 to 2005 and the National Theater of Brazil from 2007 to 2009, making him the only foreigner to have had leading positions in most of the leading opera houses in South America. He will conduct at least three opera productions and several concerts each year in Rio.

Ira Levin had major conducting positions in Bremen, Kassel and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and guest conducted in several houses including Leipzig, Dresden, Frankfurt, Hannover, Linz, Geneva, Oslo, Cape Town and New York City Opera. Ira Levin has conducted over 90 operas and his concert activity has been equally intense, encompassing a huge repertoire, and he has several CDs to his credit with the London Symphony, Scottish National Orchestra and other orchestras.

Ira Levin, Maestro Titular, Teatro Municipal, Río de Janeiro

 
Ira Levin is also still active as a concert pianist and has published several piano transcriptions as well as seven large orchestrations. His first Naxos CD, to be released in the Fall of 2019 will be of works by Max Reger and includes his orchestration of the monumental Bach Variations opus 81, originally for piano. 
 
Ira Levin, Maestro Titular, Teatro Municipal, Río de Janeiro
 
Ira Levin’s recent highlights include Janacek’s The Makropoulos case and Katja Kabanova (São Pedro Theater in São Paulo), Schumann‘s Scenes from Faust and Marschner’s Der Vampyr (Grand-Théâtre de Genève) and Respighi’s La campana sommersa (New York City Opera). 
 
Ira Levin is also still active as a concert pianist and has published several piano transcriptions as well as seven large orchestrations. His first Naxos CD, to be released in the Fall of 2019, will be of works by Max Reger and includes his orchestration of the monumental Bach Variations opus 81, originally for piano. He lives in Berlin and Rio de Janeiro. He lives in Berlin and Rio de Janeiro. For more information about Ira Levin see www.iralevin.net.