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.
Marina Heredia will sing at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival next Saturday, August 2nd, accompanied by some of her regular collaborators: José Quevedo ‘Bolita’ on guitar and Roberto Jaén on percussion. Once again, they are special guests of Avi Avital and his Between Worlds Ensemble. The program features arrangements of classical compositions by Falla, Albéniz and Granados, along with flamenco and other popular music pieces in new arrangements created especially for the project, which was premiered at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin in November 2022 and has been released by Deutsche Grammophon this past June 2025.
Mandolinist Avi Avital has long enjoyed crossing musical borders. Between Worlds is an exploration of different genres, cultures, and musical worlds: at the center of the project is the Between Worlds Ensemble, founded by Avital in 2014 and made up of ten classically trained musicians equally at home in non-classical repertoire. For each of the three Between Worlds programs, this core group has been joined by several artists or an ensemble representing a specific cultural and geographical region from around the world, in programs that include classical pieces as well as traditional and folk music in newly created arrangements. “The feeling of being at home in places that seem strange and even discovering aspects of oneself is an idea I find very moving,” says Avital. “That philosophy is at the heart of this project.” To open the series, Marina Heredia, one of the most fascinating voices in flamenco today, joins the Between Worlds Ensemble, alongside José Quevedo “Bolita” and Roberto Jaén in a program dedicated to the music of the Iberian Peninsula.
Marina Heredia has become the most sought-after singer internationally to perform repertoires that combine flamenco with classical music and other musical styles, both popular and folk, in which she moves like a fish in water. Among her most notable projects is En Libertad. El Camino de los Gitanos (In Freedom. The Way of the Gypsies), a new work by José Quevedo and Joan Albert Amargós that was commissioned by the Duisburger Philharmoniker, which premiered it in 2023. The piece was afterwards performed in Spain by the Galicia Symphony Orchestra in 2024, and is already scheduled for September 18th with the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, and in 2026 with the Castilla y León Symphony Orchestra. Marina’s upcoming engagements include invitations to sing Falla’s El Amor Brujo with the San Diego and Philadelphia orchestras.
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.
