Perry So opens his third season as musical and artistic director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra with a programme that includes Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, op. 44, with Elisabeth Leonskaja as the soloist, and a selection from Beethoven’s The Creatures of Prometheus, op. 43. The concerts will take place on the 10th and 11th of October in Pamplona and Tudela. Just a few days ago, on 22nd September, Perry So inaugurated his first season as Music Director of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra with Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Gathering Son, a short work for baritone and orchestra by Courtney Brian.
Perry So was born in Hong Kong in 1982, 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 modernist literature, during which time he founded an academic orchestra and conducted the university’s opera company. He studied conducting at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, first with James Sinclair and later with Gustav Meier. In 2008 he won first prize and a 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 of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Artistic Collaborator of the Principality of Asturias Symphony Orchestra and Member of the Conducting Department of the Manhattan School of Music.
In recent seasons Perry So made his subscription series debut with the San Francisco Symphony and his European operatic debut at the Royal Danish Opera in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Other highlights include a tour to Milan with the Nuremberg Symphony and a seven-week tour of South Africa with three orchestras including Verdi’s Requiem in Cape Town. He has appeared with the Cleveland and Minnesota Orchestras, the symphony orchestras of Israel, New Zealand, Shanghai, Houston, Detroit, New Jersey, Tucson, Tenerife and Málaga; the London, China, Seoul and Szezcin Philharmonics; the Residentie Orkest in the Hague and the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie in Koblenz, among others. He toured the Balkan Peninsula at the helm of the Zagreb Philharmonic in the first series of cultural exchanges established after the breakup of Yugoslavia.
His work in the recording studio encompasses a broad sampling of twentieth 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’s violin concertos with soloist Alexander Gilman and the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra was awarded the Diapason d’Or in 2012. His wide-ranging musical interests encompass world premieres on four continents as well as championing the reintroduction of the Renaissance and Baroque repertory into symphonic programs. His work with young musicians has taken him to the Round Top Festival, where he serves on the board of trustees, the Australian Youth Orchestra, the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, the Manhattan School of Music, the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts and the Yale School of Music.
Abraham Cupeiro is touring the UK as a soloist with orchestras including the Welsh National Opera Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Manchester Camerata, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the London Symphony, conducted by Anthony Gabriele. From Esk Film, in association with Netflix and Silverback Films, comes a new immersive natural history concert experience: Life on Our Planet in Concert, by composer Lorne Balfe, featuring highlights from the entire series alongside an incredible live soundtrack.
Life on Our Planet is a ground-breaking new 8-part series created by Silverback Films in association with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television. Narrated by Academy Award®-winner Morgan Freeman, it’s the story of life’s epic battle to conquer and survive on planet Earth. Touring six major UK cities during October 2024, the power, drama and excitement of the series will soon be experienced on the big screen alongside a sweeping soundtrack composed by Lorne Balfe, performed by some of the UK’s finest and most renowned orchestras. The concerts will take place on the 2nd in Bristol, 4th in Birmingham, 6th in Newcastle, 8th in Manchester, 10th in Glasgow and 17th in London.
A builder and multi-instrumentalist, Abraham Cupeiro’s work is characterised by the recovery of instruments lost in time, using them to create new sonorities and integrate them into music that is alien to them. He studied trumpet at the RCSMM and later obtained a Master’s degree in Early Music Performance from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Although classically trained, he has always been attracted to all kinds of music. From a young age he has been a member of folk, jazz and early music groups.
As an instrumentalist, Abraham stands out as one of the few people to play the Karnyx (Celtic war trumpet from the Iron Age). He has recently been invited to try out the Tintignac Karnyx, the only one to have appeared in its entirety in 2004. He has rescued from oblivion instruments rooted in classical culture, such as the Greek aulos and the Roman cornu. He is also the promoter of an ancestral instrument of Galician tradition: the corna. This instrument was played by his grandfather and appears in the illuminations of Alfonso X. His interest in organology has led him to build up a collection of more than 200 instruments from all over the world and from different periods. It is a collection that he teaches in the form of a concert monologue called Resonando en el Pasado (Resonating in the Past). Abraham recovers and builds different instruments and uses them to play from his own music to contemporary music, mixing them with modern formations.
These blends can be seen in his work Compromiscuo with the Belarusian accordionist Vadzim Yukhnevich, as well as in works written especially for him, such as Vladimir Rosinsky’s Concierto Misterio with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia. Other composers who have written for Abraham include Bernd Redman, Enrique Rueda and Mark Pogolski. Os Sons Esquecidos (The Forgotten Sounds) is a project recorded with the Filharmonía de Galicia for Warner Classics. After its premiere, it was performed with different orchestras in Spain, Europe and America.
In 2018 Abraham premieres a new project: PANGEA, recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London at Abbey Road Studios in November 2019 and released in September 2020 on the Warner Classics label. Among the orchestras with which he has performed are the Sinfónica de Galicia, the Real Filharmonía de Galicia, the Royal Philharmonic, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao, the Orchestre National de Bretagne, the Kymi Sinfonietta and the Vaasa City Orchestra. In 2024 he began recording a new project, MYTHOS, again with the RPO, which was premiered in Spain with the Oviedo Filarmonia.
He was called by the violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja for the project Les Adieux, among others at La Philharmonie in Berlin and the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg. He composed the soundtrack for the film Maria Solinha and has worked with Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer’s 14th Street company. He regularly participates in Adolfo Domínguez’s fashion shows with live performances. He also works for the science outreach project Neuston 3, which aims to raise awareness of the importance of the ocean in our lives. He has been commissioned to compose and record for TV and film shows including Netflix’s Life on our Planet, Prime Video’s The Wheel of Time and Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II.
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.
Perry So formally begins his new responsibility as Music Director of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra this coming July 1, for an initial period of three seasons until June 30, 2027. His presentation as the new Music Director of the NHSO took place last Saturday, June 15, within the orchestra’s annual collaboration with the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, ARTIDEA, which was held on the open-air stage of the New Haven Green. Perry will combine this new responsibility with his position as Music and Artistic Director of the Navarra Symphony Orchestra, which he has been holding since the 2022/23 season. With a contract in force until the end of the 2024/25 season, the orchestra recently announced its renewal after August 2025..
The New Haven Symphony Orchestra is the fourth oldest orchestra in the United States, its performances and accessible educational programs reach more than 40,000 regular audiences and 20,000 students each year. Innovative programming and dedication to promoting new work commissions inspire more engaged audience participation and meaningful artistic and educational collaborations. Through the nationally acclaimed Harmony Fellowship program, as well as numerous award-winning educational and community engagement programs, 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 graduated in Comparative Literature from Yale University with a specialization in 20th-century Central European music and literature. He served as Associate Conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Conducting Fellow of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Artistic Collaborator of the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias in Spain, and on the conducting faculty of the Manhattan School of Music. As a student at Yale University he founded an orchestra and led the undergraduate opera company. He received his training as a conductor initially under James Sinclair and subsequently with Gustav Meier at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore and received First and Special Prizes at the International Prokofiev Conducting Competition in St Petersburg, Russia.
Christian Vásquez begins a tour to China with the Juan José Landaeta Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, of which he has been Music Director since 2010, when its official name was still Teresa Carreño Youth Symphony Orchestra. Christian was also recently appointed Associate Director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, an appointment that sanctions his long and close relationship with the orchestra in particular, and with the Children’s and Youth Orchestra System in general, within which he was trained and of which he never really left, as he was also named musical director of the José Félix Ribas Youth Symphony in 2006, still during his student days. He recently led the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra on another China tour. In the meantime, Christian also became Music Director of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra at the beginning of the 2013/14 season, a position he held until 2019, and was Principal Guest Conductor of the Gävle Orchestra in Sweden and Arnhem Orchestra in The Netherlands.
An extract from the El Sistema press release: “The Juan José Landaeta Symphony Orchestra (OSJJL) will thus undertake its first international tour. During its stay in the Chinese capital, the group will offer three concerts in addition to participating in the creation of a binational orchestra together with local musicians, in a meeting that aims to be a bridge between the two cultures through the universal language of music. This tour is part of the celebration of 50 years of diplomatic relations between Venezuela and the Republic of China. The OSJJL was created in 2018 at the initiative of Eduardo Méndez, executive director of El Sistema, as a tribute to the first orchestra founded by Maestro José Antonio Abreu in 1975. The current group debuted in the preamble to the celebration of the 43rd anniversary of El Sistema. This group has reached a solid musical level thanks to its associate conductors Christian Vásquez and Jesús Uzcátegui together with the meticulous work of an outstanding group of Venezuelan conductors, among whom are Enluis Montes Olivar, Rodolfo Saglimbeni, Joshua Dos Santos and Pablo Castellanos, who have contributed with their talent and experience to the training of this exceptional group, which in turn has become an important source of opportunities for young Venezuelan soloists”.
The great debut of the Juan José Landaeta Symphony Orchestra in Asia will be led by the Chinese National Orchestra in a binational concert – on Monday, June 17 – that will be conducted by Christian Vásquez and Liu Zheng. The imposing Beijing Concert Hall theater will be the stage for a repertoire that combines masterpieces from China and Venezuela and celebrates the richness and diversity of music worldwide. The Spring Festival Overture by Li Huanzhi; Dance of Yao People by Liu Tieshan and Mao Yuan; Dance of Golden Snake by Er Nie; and Jasmine Flowers, one of the best-known Chinese compositions in the world, are the Chinese works that will be performed. On the other hand, Margariteña by Inocente Carreño, Santa Cruz de Pacairigua by Evencio Castellanos, Venezuela by Pablo Herrero and José Luis Armenteros, and Alma Llanera by Rafael Bolívar Coronado and Pedro Elías Gutiérrez, will put the Venezuelan flavor in Beijing. Additionally, the group will perform Sensemayá, by the Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas.
On Tuesday, June 18, the OSJJL will return to the Beijing Concert Hall under the baton of maestro Christian Vásquez. In this concert, the Venezuelan orchestra will take the public on a vibrant journey, with Revueltas’ The Night of the Mayans, -a colorful work that immerses the public in a magical and ritualistic universe- and Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, a composition that evokes a whirlwind of passions, dreams and fantasies. Finally, on Thursday, June 20, they will visit the Beijing Science and Culture Youth Center of the Song Ching Ling Foundation. The concert will be divided into two parts. The works by Carreño, Revueltas and Castellanos, together with the last movement of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, will be performed in the first part, which will be conducted by Maestro Zheng. Next, the Spring Festival Overture by Li Huanzhi and Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky will be conducted by Christian. Jupiter, from Gustav Holst’s The Planets, and the fourth movement of Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, both conducted by Zheng, will also be performed.
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