Perry So has extended his contract with the Baluarte Foundation, the public entity that manages the Navarre Symphony Orchestra, for another three years. Unanimously approved by the Baluarte Foundation Board of Trustees last May and effective from 1 September this year until 31 August 2028, this contract extension has been endorsed by a huge majority of the orchestra’s staff. The Board of Trustees valued the excellent artistic work carried out over these three seasons, as well as the cordial and fruitful relationship with the musicians, which is leading the NSO to a high degree of excellence and growing public support, reflected in an increase in subscriptions and ticket sales in general, both at the Baluarte Auditorium and in Tudela and Tafalla. The growing interaction with other cultural and social agents and the greater presence throughout the region have also been taken into account. Together with the expansion and extension of socio-educational activities, this has led to greater awareness and enjoyment of the orchestra among the public. With Perry So at the helm of the OSN, concerts open to the public have been reinstated in Pamplona’s Plaza del Castillo, attracting hundreds of people over the last two years. Nor should we forget the outstanding work carried out in recovering, preserving and showcasing Navarre’s rich musical heritage, and the growing presence of the OSN at major musical events and festivals throughout Spain. Perry So has conducted the official orchestra of Navarre during the Kursaal Eszena season in San Sebastián; at the National Auditorium, as part of the season of the Orchestra and Choir of the Community of Madrid (ORCAM); the Música Musika Festival in Bilbao, the Otoño Soriano Music Festival, the Religious Music Week in Cuenca and the Early Music Week in Estella. Since 2024, he has also been principal conductor of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.
Perry So has just conducted Don Giovanni at the Wuppertal Opera House and is currently in Navarre recording an album with the IBS Classical label. The first subscription programme of this new period with the OSN will take place on 16 and 17 October in Pamplona and Tafalla respectively, in both cases at 7.30 pm, with a programme consisting of Prokofiev’s symphony concertante for cello, with Nicolas Alstaedt as soloist, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6. Perry So (Hong Kong, 1982) received early musical training in piano, organ, violin, viola and composition. He graduated from Yale University and studied conducting at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. He received First Prize and the Special Prize at the 5th International Prokofiev Conducting Competition in St Petersburg. He was then appointed assistant conductor and later associate conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. He has conducted more than 30 orchestras around the world, including the San Francisco Symphony, the National Orchestra of Wales, the New Zealand Symphony, the Shanghai Symphony, the Residentie Orkest in The Hague and the London Philharmonic, as well as half a dozen Spanish orchestras.
Miguel Osés/OSN
During this period, he founded an academic orchestra and conducted opera productions with graduate students. In 2008, he studied conducting at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore under the tutelage of maestro Gustav Meier, receiving First Prize and the Special Prize at the 5th International Prokofiev Conducting Competition in St. Petersburg. Following this recognition, he was appointed Assistant Conductor and then Associate Conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, and will later be invited to conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Principality of Asturias Symphony Orchestra.
Having already established his presence on five continents, Perry So recently made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony and conducted the Royal Danish Opera (The Magic Flute) and the Yale Opera (Eugene Onegin) as an opera conductor. Among the latest milestones in his career are three major tours: a Milan tour with the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, another through the Balkans in 2013 with the Zagreb Philharmonic, and a third seven-week tour of South Africa with three orchestras, during which he performed Verdi’s Requiem as part of the South African National Arts Festival.
In addition to these projects and invitations, Maestro So has conducted more than 30 orchestras around the world, including the San Francisco Symphony, the National Orchestra of Wales, the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, the New Zealand Symphony, the Shanghai Symphony, the Residentie Orkest in The Hague and the London Philharmonic, as well as half a dozen Spanish orchestras. He has also served as assistant to such renowned conductors as Edo de Waart, Esa Pekka-Salonen, Gustavo Dudamel, Lorin Maazel, and John Adams. Perry So is a member of the faculty of Music Conducting at the Manhattan School of Music and also has an extensive discography to his credit with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the BBC Concert Orchestra, repeatedly earning critical acclaim and winning the Diapason d’Or in 2021.
Perry So conducts Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Wuppertal Opera in a production by Claudia Isabel Martín, with Zachary Wilson (Don Giovanni), Oliver Weidinger (Leporello), Elena Sverdiolaite (Donna Anna), Jongyoung Kim (Don Ottavio), David Jerusalem (Commendatore), Edith Grossman (Donna Elvira), Agostino Subacchi (Masetto) and Tamina Biber (Zerlina). The set design is by Polina Liefers, costumes by Veronika Kaleja and choreography by Ruben Reniersm, and will naturally feature the theatre’s permanent ensembles, the Opera Choir and the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra. From Wuppertal, he returns directly to Spain to make a recording with the Navarra Symphony Orchestra for the IBS label and to tackle the first programme of the OSN‘s symphonic season on 16 and 17 October in Pamplona and Tafalla respectively, in both cases at 7.30 pm, with a programme consisting of Prokofiev’s symphon concertante for cello, with Nicolas Alstaedt as soloist, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6.
Perry So was born in 1982 in Hong Kong, where he received his early training in piano, organ, violin, viola and composition. He graduated from Yale University with a degree in literature, specialising in Central European music and literature of the modernist period, during which time he founded an academic orchestra and conducted the university’s opera company. He studied conducting initially with James Sinclair and later with Gustav Meier at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. In 2008, Perry received First Prize and the Special Prize at the 5th International Prokofiev Conducting Competition in St Petersburg. Following this recognition, he was appointed Assistant Conductor and then Associate Conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel Conducting Fellow at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, artistic collaborator with the Principality of Asturias Symphony Orchestra, and member of the Conducting Department at the Manhattan School of Music. He is currently music director of the Navarra Symphony Orchestra and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.
In recent seasons, Perry So has made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony, as well as his operatic debut in Europe with the Royal Danish Opera and The Magic Flute. Notable performances include a tour of Italy with the Nuremberg Symphony and a seven-week tour of South Africa conducting three different orchestras, during which he conducted Verdi’s Requiem. Other debuts in recent years include appearances with the Cleveland and Minnesota Orchestras, the symphony orchestras of Navarra, Málaga, Tenerife, Nuremberg, Israel, New Zealand, Houston, Detroit, New Jersey and Shanghai, the London, Szezcin, Seoul and China Philharmonic Orchestras, the Residentie Orkest in The Hague and the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie in Koblenz. In 2013, he toured the Balkan Peninsula with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra in the first series of cultural exchanges established after the break-up of Yugoslavia.
Perry So’s recording work encompasses a wide range of 20th-century British, French and Russian music with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the BBC Concert Orchestra, and his album of Barber and Korngold violin concertos with Alexander Gilman and the Cape Town Philharmonic received the Diapason d’Or in 2012. His wide-ranging musical interests include numerous world premieres on four continents, as well as the reintroduction of Renaissance and Baroque repertoire into symphonic programmes, particularly championing the works of Jean-Philippe Rameau. His work with young musicians has taken him to the Australian Youth Orchestra, the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, the Round Top Festival, the Manhattan School of Music, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and the Yale School of Music.
Perry So has kicked off his concert season with a busy September at the helm of the Sinfónica de Navarra and the New Haven Symphony, the two orchestras where he serves as principal conductor. The first event was the traditional concert in Pamplona’s Plaza del Castillo, which marks the start of the symphonic season in the Navarran capital and took place on 6 September at 8 pm. He then returns to the United States for the first concert of the New Haven Symphony season, which will take place at Woolsey Hall on 28 September at 3 p.m., with a programme that includes Holst’s The Planets and Tumblebird Contrails by composer Gabriella Smith. The first subscription programme with the Sinfónica de Navarra will be on 16 and 17 October in Pamplona and Tafalla respectively, in both cases at 7.30 pm, with a programme consisting of Prokofiev’s symphony concertante for cello, with Nicolas Alstaedt as soloist, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6. But between the two season openings, he will have time to go to the Wuppertal Opera to conduct a performance of Mozart’s Don Giovanni and also to make a recording with the OSN on the IBS label.
Perry So was born in 1982 in Hong Kong, where he received his early training in piano, organ, violin, viola and composition. He graduated from Yale University with a degree in literature, specialising in Central European music and literature of the modernist period, during which time he founded an academic orchestra and conducted the university’s opera company. He studied conducting initially with James Sinclair and later with Gustav Meier at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. In 2008, Perry received First Prize and the Special Prize at the 5th International Prokofiev Conducting Competition in St Petersburg. Following this recognition, he was appointed Assistant Conductor and then Associate Conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel Conducting Fellow at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, artistic collaborator with the Principality of Asturias Symphony Orchestra, and member of the Conducting Department at the Manhattan School of Music. He is currently music director of the Navarra Symphony Orchestra and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.
In recent seasons, Perry So has made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony, as well as his operatic debut in Europe with the Royal Danish Opera and The Magic Flute. Notable performances include a tour of Italy with the Nuremberg Symphony and a seven-week tour of South Africa conducting three different orchestras, during which he conducted Verdi’s Requiem. Other debuts in recent years include appearances with the Cleveland and Minnesota Orchestras, the symphony orchestras of Navarra, Málaga, Tenerife, Nuremberg, Israel, New Zealand, Houston, Detroit, New Jersey and Shanghai, the London, Szezcin, Seoul and China Philharmonic Orchestras, the Residentie Orkest in The Hague and the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie in Koblenz. In 2013, he toured the Balkan Peninsula with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra in the first series of cultural exchanges established after the break-up of Yugoslavia.
Perry So’s recording work encompasses a wide range of 20th-century British, French and Russian music with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the BBC Concert Orchestra, and his album of Barber and Korngold violin concertos with Alexander Gilman and the Cape Town Philharmonic received the Diapason d’Or in 2012. His wide-ranging musical interests include numerous world premieres on four continents, as well as the reintroduction of Renaissance and Baroque repertoire into symphonic programmes, particularly championing the works of Jean-Philippe Rameau. His work with young musicians has taken him to the Australian Youth Orchestra, the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, the Round Top Festival, the Manhattan School of Music, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and the Yale School of Music.
Perry So conducts the Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal next Sunday and Monday, 10 and 11 May, in the Historische Stadthalle Wuppertal with a programme including Arvo Pärt’s Fratres, Stravinsky’s Symphony in three movements and Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61. This is Perry’s second visit to Germany so far this year following his appearance before the Rheinische Philharmonie in Koblenz this past January when he conducted a very French programme with works by Saint-Saëns, Poulenc and Mozart’s Paris Symphony.
Perry So was born in 1982 in Hong Kong, where he received his early training in piano, organ, violin, viola and composition. He received a BA in literature from Yale University with a major in Central European music and literature of the modernist period, during which time he founded an academic orchestra and conducted the university’s opera company. He studied conducting initially with James Sinclair and later with Gustav Meier at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. In 2008 Perry was awarded First Prize and Special Prize at the 5th St. Petersburg Prokofiev International Conducting Competition. Following this recognition he was appointed Assistant Conductor and then Associate Conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel Conducting Fellow at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Artistic Collaborator of the Principality of Asturias Symphony Orchestra, and a member of the Department of Conducting at the Manhattan School of Music. He is currently music director of the Sinfónica de Navarra and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.
In recent seasons, Perry So has made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony, as well as his European operatic debut with the Royal Danish Opera and The Magic Flute. Highlights include a tour to Italy with the Nuremberg Symphony and a seven-week tour of South Africa conducting three different orchestras in Verdi’s Requiem. Other debuts in recent years include appearances with the Cleveland and Minnesota Orchestras, the symphony orchestras of Navarra, Malaga, Tenerife, Nuremberg, Israel, New Zealand, Houston, Detroit, New Jersey and Shanghai, the London, Szezcin, Seoul and China Philharmonics, the Residentie Orkest in The Hague and the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie in Koblenz. In 2013 he toured the Balkan Peninsula conducting the Zagreb Philharmonic in the first series of cultural exchanges established after the break-up of Yugoslavia.
Perry So’s work in the recording studio encompasses a wide range of 20th century British, French and Russian music with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the BBC Concert Orchestra, and his album of Barber and Korngold Violin Concertos with Alexander Gilman and the Cape Town Philharmonic received the Diapason d’Or in 2012. His wide-ranging musical interests include numerous world premieres on four continents, as well as the reintroduction of Renaissance and Baroque repertoire into symphonic programmes, notably championing the works of Jean-Philippe Rameau. His work with young musicians has taken him to the Australian Youth Orchestra, the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, the Round Top Festival, the Manhattan School of Music, the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and the Yale School of Music.
Perry So conducts this week the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra in a very interesting programme combining the work of the Navarrese Fernando Remacha (1898-1984), Jesus Christ on the Cross, with Bruckner’s 6th Symphony, for which he has assembled a cast formed by the soprano Andrea Jiménez, contralto Leticia Vergara, tenor Guillen Munguía, bass Iosu Yeregui and the Coral de Cámara de Pamplona. The concerts will take place on February 27th in the Baluarte Auditorium in Pamplona and on the 28th in the Teatro Gaztambide in Tudela, both days at 19:3 pm.
Perry So conducted the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie past 19 January in the Hunsrückhalle in Simmern with a programme including Mozart’s Symphony No. 31 Paris, the Piano Concerto No. 2 and the Allegro appassionato for piano and orchestra, Op. 70 by Saint-Saëns, with pianist Anny Hwang as soloist, and Francis Poulenc’s Sinfonietta. Shortly afterwards he conducted Verdi’s La Traviata at the Baluarte in Pamplona and the Kursaal of San Sebastián in a production by the Sferisterio de Macerata and in short he will conduct the Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal. A dynamic and transformative presence in concert halls on five continents, Perry So is currently Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra and Music Director of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. Under his leadership, the Navarre Symphony Orchestra has toured to critical acclaim, widely lauded for the “artistic vitality” of its programming, and the ensemble, Spain’s oldest orchestra, recognized as currently being at “one of the finest points in its history.”
Perry So was born in 1982 in Hong Kong, where he received his early training in piano, organ, violin, viola and composition. He received a BA in Literature from Yale University with a major in Central European music and literature of the modernist period, during which time he founded an academic orchestra and conducted the university’s opera company. He studied conducting initially with James Sinclair and later with Gustav Meier at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. In 2008 he received the First Prize and the Special Prize at the 5th Edition of the International Prokofiev Conducting Competition in St. Petersburg. Following this recognition he was appointed Assistant Conductor and then Associate Conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel Conducting Fellow at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Artistic Collaborator of the Principality of Asturias Symphony Orchestra, and member of the Department of Conducting at the Manhattan School of Music.
