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.
Marina Heredia returns to the United States to sing Manuel de Falla’s El Amor Brujo, alongside the San Diego Symphony and Rafael Payare, on 8 October at 7:30 p.m. on the spectacular stage of the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park. Marina will share the stage with Javier Perianes, who will play Noches en los Jardines de España, to complete, together with Chabrier’s España, a very Spanish evening that, in fact, is entitled A Night in Spain. Marina will repeat the experience later, in 2026, again with Rafael Payare but this time with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Marina was in the United States as recently as this past March to participate in the New York Flamenco Festival, and previous visits include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and St Luke’s in New York, always with El Amor Brujo and conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado. Her most recent performance was very special because, in addition to taking place at the Palace of Charles V in the Alhambra as part of the 1st Granada Flamenco Biennial, it was a double presentation as she sang En Libertad! El camino de los gitanos, presenting his latest album, with this work as the centrepiece, with the City of Granada Orchestra conducted by José Trigueros, and with José Quevedo “Bolita” on guitar and Paquito González on percussion. This work, composed jointly by Joan Albert Amargós and José Quevedo, was commissioned by the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra, with which it premiered on 28 and 29 June 2023 with Amargós himself conducting. It had its Spanish premiere in A Coruña on 24 and 25 May 2024 with the Galicia Symphony Orchestra, and this season it is also scheduled to be performed by the Castile and León Symphony Orchestra in January 2026, in both cases also conducted by Maestro Trigueros.
Marina Heredia is undoubtedly the most sought-after international singer for this repertoire. In recent seasons, she has performed at the Konzerthaus and Philharmonie in Berlin with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra; the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, the Laieszhalle at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Lausitz Festival in Görlitz, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the New York Flamenco Festival and the Cartagena Festival. She has sung with orchestras of the stature of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Orchestre National de Lille, the Orquestra Sinfônica da Casa da Música do Porto, the Rouen Opera and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, with which she recorded El Amor Brujo under the baton of Pablo Heras-Casado, and in La Fura del Baus’ production for the Granada Festival under the baton of Manuel Hernández -Silva, as well as with the Castile and León Symphony Orchestra and Thierry Fischer, the Galicia Symphony Orchestra and José Trigueros, the Navarra Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Perry So, the RTVE Symphony Orchestra, again conducted by Hernández-Silva, the Murcia Region Symphony Orchestra with Roberto Forés, and the North Macedonia Philharmonic Orchestra with Christian Vásquez.
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 presents En Libertad! El Camino de los Gitanos (In Freedom! The path of the gypsies) at the Palace of Charles V in the Alhambra of Granada, on September 18th, as part of the 1st Granada Flamenco Biennial, with the Granada City Orchestra conducted by José Trigueros, José Quevedo ‘Bolita’ on guitar and Paquito González on percussion. This is a double presentation, as the concert is accompanied by the launch of his new album, which revolves around this piece as its central work. En Libertad!, composed jointly by Joan Albert Amargós and José Quevedo, was commissioned by the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra, with which it premiered on June 28th and 29th, 2023, with Amargós himself conducting. It had its Spanish premiere in A Coruña on May 24th and 25th, 2024, with the Galicia Symphony Orchestra under the direction of José Trigueros, and it is also scheduled to be performed with the Castilla y León Symphony Orchestra in January 2026, again under the baton of Maestro Trigueros. Marina, who was at the New York Flamenco Festival on past March, is also scheduled to perform with the San Diego Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra in the United States, singing Falla’s El Amor Brujo, on both occasions conducted by Rafael Payare.
Marina Heredia is undoubtedly the most sought-after singer internationally for this repertoire. In recent seasons, she has appeared at the Konzerthaus and the Berlin Philharmonie, alongside the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra; the Pierre Boulez Hall in Berlin; the Laieszhalle of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg; the Lausitz Festival in Görlitz; the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival; the New York Flamenco Festival or the Cartagena International Music Festival.
She has sung with orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Lille, the Orquestra Sinfônica da Casa da Música do Porto, the Rouen Opera, and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, with whom she recorded El Amor Brujo under the baton of Pablo Heras-Casado and the production of La Fura del Baus for the Granada Festival under the baton of Manuel Hernández-Silva. She has also performed with the Castilla y León Symphony Orchestra and Thierry Fischer, the Galicia Symphony Orchestra and José Trigueros, the Navarra Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Perry So, the RTVE Symphony Orchestra under the direction, again, of Hernández-Silva, the Murcia Region Symphony Orchestra with Roberto Forés, and the North Macedonia Philharmonic with Christian Vásquez.
