Marina Heredia participates in the New York Flamenco Festival with a programme entitled De lo jondo a Lorca that includes a selection of poems and songs that Lorca immortalised in his works, mixing the intensity of flamenco with the poetic lyricism of the author. Accompanied by her inseparable guitarist José Quevedo ‘El Bolita’, Marina transports the audience to the deepest roots of Andalusian culture, reliving the legacy of the poet from Granada with every note and verse. The concert will take place on Friday 14 March in the Merkin Concert Hall of the Kaufman Music Center at 8pm. Marina has just had an outstanding presence at the Cartagena Music Festival in Colombia where he gave three concerts, two with the Castile and Leon Symphony Orchestra and Thierry Fisher with programmes covering works by Falla and Lorca as well as with his flamenco quintet.
Marina Heredia is definitely the most internationally demanded singer for this repertoire, just in the last two seasons she could be seen at the Konzerthaus and the Berlin Philharmonie with the Berlin Radio Symphony conducted by Pablo Heras Casado; the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, in the Laieszhalle of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, or the Lausitz Festival in Görlitz, and has sung with orchestras of the importance of the Chicago Symphony or San Francisco Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, of which she was resident artist and with which she premiered in Spain En Libertad!, a new work for cantaora and orchestra by José Quevedo and Joan Albert Amargós, commissioned and premiered by the Duisburger Philharmoniker.
Other important orchestras which Marina has sung with are the Orchestre National de Lille, Orquestra Sinfônica da Casa da Música do Porto, Ópera de Rouen, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, with whom she recorded El Amor Brujo under the baton of Pablo Heras-Casado or the production by La Fura del Baus for the Granada Festival as well as with the Sinfónicas de Navarra under the baton of Perry So, Sinfónica de RTVE, Sinfónica de la Región de Murcia with Roberto Forés, North Macedonian Philharmonic with Christian Vásquez or Sinfónica de Castilla y León under the baton of José Trigueros and Thierry Fisher. Among the upcoming engagements it highlights the concert with the San Diego Symphony in the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park under the baton of Rafael Payare.
Leo Rondón makes his debut with the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla to participate on 6 and 7 March in two concertante works of a markedly Latin character with Hernández-Silva and Pacho Flores, with whom he regularly collaborates. These works are Concerto Venezolano for trumpet and orchestra by Paquito D’Rivera, winner of a Latin Grammy, and Cantos y Revueltas. Fantasía Concertante for trumpet, Venezuelan cuatro and Orchestra, by the trumpeter himself, in whose recording for Deutsche Grammophon Leo also participates. The concerts will take place at the Teatro de la Maestranza at 20:00.
Leo comes from Poland to play his own Concierto del Mar, for Venezuelan cuatro with the Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra of Gdansk conducted by Christian Vásquez, and will soon be seen at the Auditori de Barcelona with the Banda Municipal de Barcelona again playing in Cantos y Revueltas conducted by Pascual Vilaplana. Previously he could also be seen with the Duisburger Philharmoniker conducted by Alondra de la Parra and this season he can still be seen again in Spain playing the Concierto del Mar with the Orquesta de Extremadura and Silva.
Following the premiere of his Concierto del Mar, Rondón is now completing the composition of a new concerto for four and orchestra entitled Concierto del Llano, which will be the second in a trilogy. He will also continue his work in the artistic organisation of the PAAX GNP Festival, chaired by Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra, which will take place again in June 2025 in Mexico’s Riviera Maya. He continues to work with maestro Alexis Cárdenas and his quartet, and with a duo with French pianist Thomas Enhco, with whom he released an album together with Chilean tenor Emiliano González Toro, in homage to singer Violeta Parra. Known as Leo Rondón, Leonidas Rondón (Guama, Yaracuy, 1984), who was an outstanding podium participant in the Festival La Siembra del Cuatro in Venezuela, has collaborated with the Quatuor Debussy, Christina Pluhar’s L’Arpeggiata and the Mexican tenor Rolando Villazón. Also with orchestras such as the Arctic Philharmonic of Norway, Real Filharmonía de Galicia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Orchestre National de l’Ile de France, Sinfónica de la Región de Murcia, Orquesta de Valencia, Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Orquesta de Extremadura, Sinfónica de Navarra, Sinfónica del Vallés or Filarmónica de Málaga. For years he organised, together with maestro Cristóbal Soto, the summer course Música Criolla Venezolana, a Venezuelan music teaching camp in the city of Mirecourt, France. He is currently working on his solo project, Leo Rondón Project.
Marina Heredia sings El Amor Brujo by Falla and the Canciones Españolas Antiguas compiled and harmonised by Federico García Lorca, orchestrated by José Trigueros, with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León conducted by Thierry Fischer, at the Cartagena International Music Festival in Colombia. In addition to her appearances with the orchestra, the cantaora also offers a flamenco recital with her quintet.
Under the title El flamenco. Identity and heart of Andalusia, the flamenco recital will take place on Tuesday 7 January in the Chapel of the Hotel Sofitel Santa Clara at 16:00, while the symphonic concerts will take place in the Teatro Adolfo Mejía at 19:00 on the 8th and 9th. Previously and in preparation for these concerts Marina had already performed with the OSCyL last November, within the framework of the Festival de Música de Miranda de Ebro, on this occasion under the baton of José Trigueros.
Marina Heredia is definitely the most internationally demanded cantaora for this repertoire, just in the last two seasons she could be seen at the Konzerthaus and the Berlin Philharmonie with the Berlin Radio Symphony; the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, in the Laieszhalle of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, or the Lausitz Festival in Görlitz, and has sung with orchestras of the stature of the Chicago Symphony or San Francisco Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, where she was resident artist and premiered in Spain En Libertad!, a new work for cantaora and orchestra by José Quevedo and Joan Albert Amargós commissioned and premiered by the Duisburger Philharmoniker, Orchestre National de Lille, Orquestra Sinfônica da Casa da Música do Porto, the Rouen Opera or the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, with which she recorded El Amor Brujo under the baton of Pablo Heras-Casado or the production of La Fura del Baus for the Granada Festival, as well as with the Sinfónicas de Navarra under the baton of Perry So, of RTVE, Sinfónica de la Región de Murcia with Roberto Forés or the North Macedonian Philharmonic with Christian Vásquez.
Leo Rondón plays with the Duisburger Philharmoniker on 18 and 19 December at the Mercatorhalle in Duisburg as soloist with Pacho Flores and conducted by Alondra de la Parra. The works in which he will take part are Concerto Venezolano by Paquito D’Rivera and Cantos y Revueltas. Fantasía concertante for trumpet and Venezuelan cuatro by the trumpeter himself.
A ‘cuatrista’, guitarist, double bass player, composer-arranger and producer, he won third place in the Siembra del Cuatro 2007, second place in 2012 at the national level, as well as second place in 2011 as a cuatrista in the festivals of El Silbón (Venezuela) and San Martín (Colombia). He is currently a cuatrista, arranger and producer of the Ávila Quartet, a quartet of Venezuelan music, as well as cuatrista with the Ensemble L’Arpeggiata, directed by Christina Pluhar, Alexis Cárdenas and Recoveco, Venezuelan Roots and Joropo Jam, in addition to his solo project Leo Rondón Project.
He has performed in different important concert halls and festivals in Venezuela, Colombia, Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Sweden, United Kingdom, Belgium, Holland, Kazakhstan and Morocco, with different ensembles and in collaboration with artists such as Rolando Villazón, Emiliano González Toro, Richard Galliano, Didier Lockwood, Cristóbal Soto, Ricardo Sandoval, Alexis Cárdenas, Simón Bolívar Big Band de Jazz, Omar Acosta and Roberto Koch, among others. As a soloist he has appeared with Alexis Cárdenas and Recoveco in the show El Fuego Latino organised by the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France and under the baton of the maestro Alondra de la Parra, presenting seven concerts in the Paris region, including the important concert hall Philharmonie de Paris. In June 2022 he made her debut at the Salzburg Pentecost Festival.
In Spain he has performed with the Real Filharmonía de Galicia, Orquesta Filarmónica de Málaga, Sinfónica de Navarra, Sinfónica de la Región de Murcia, Orquesta de Extremadura, Orquesta de Valencia, Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Orquesta de Córdoba, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Sinfónica de Tenerife, as well as Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Arctic Philharmonic of Norway, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre National du Pays de la Loire, Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia, Filarmónica del Norte de Macedonia or Festival PAAX de México. Among his recent and future engagements are his returns to Extremadura, to the PAAX Festival in Mexico with Alondra de la Parra, the Sinfónica de Tenerife or the Arctic Philharmonic, and with the Duisburger Philharmoniker or the Baltic Philharmonic of Poland. He has participated in the album Cantos y Revueltas, by Pacho Flores, for Deutsche Grammophon. Leo Rondón uses a cuatro made by Mathias Caron.
Perry So opens his first season as music director of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra on Sunday 22 September with Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. The concert will take place in Woolsey Hall and will feature Lisa Williamson (soprano), Annie Rosen (alto), Chad Kranak (tenor) and Eric Greene (baritone) as soloists, with a chorus from three local choral groups, the Heritage Chorale of New Haven, the New Haven Chorale and the Yale Glee Club. The programme will conclude with Gathering Son, a short work for baritone and orchestra by Courtney Brian with lyrics by Tazeweel Thompson, which Greene himself will perform as soloist.
He was introduced as the NHSO‘s new principal conductor on Saturday 15 June at the ensemble’s annual collaboration with the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, ARTIDEA, which took place on the outdoor stage of the New Haven Green. Perry will combine this new responsibility with his position as Music and Artistic Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra, which he has held since the 2022/23 season. His contract in Navarra runs until the end of the 2024/25 season, although it was recently announced that he will be reappointed for a further three years until the end of the 2027/28 season.
The New Haven Symphony Orchestra is the fourth oldest orchestra in the United States, and its performances and accessible education programmes reach more than 40,000 regular audiences and 20,000 students each year. Innovative programming and a commitment to commissioning new works inspire greater audience participation and meaningful artistic and educational collaborations. Through the nationally acclaimed Harmony Fellowship programme and numerous award-winning education and community engagement programmes, the Symphony strives to be a leader in racial equity in the arts.
Perry So was born in Hong Kong in 1982, where he received early musical training in piano, organ, violin, viola and composition. He later received a BA in Comparative Literature from Yale University, specialising in 20th century Central European music and literature. During this time, he founded an academic orchestra and conducted lyric productions with graduate students. In 2008, he studied conducting at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore under Maestro Gustav Meier and won First Prize and Special Prize at the 5th St. Petersburg International Prokofiev Conducting Competition. Following this accolade, he was appointed Assistant Conductor and then Associate Conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic and later became part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Dudamel Fellowship Programme, and has since conducted some of the most important American, European and Asian orchestras, as well as being Artistic Collaborator of the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias in Spain and of the Conducting Faculty of the Manhattan School of Music in New York.
