American conductor of Hong Kong origin Perry So has been appointed as the new Musical and Artistic Director of the Navarra Symphony Orchestra, a position in which he succeeds Manuel Hernández-Silva. With an initial three-year contract, which will be effective from September 1, 2022, maestro Perry So has been the orchestra’s favorite in the polls. According to the statement from the orchestra itself, the choice of Maestro So has been the product of a rigorous participatory process that has lasted for several months. It began last year with a first phase of consultations and proposals submitted for consideration by the Orchestra, after whose decision the Board of Trustees of Fundación Baluarte proceeded to approve the candidacy… in the choice of maestro So “other criteria have also weighed in addition to his talent as a director, such as his wide and varied curriculum, his international projection and his artistic concerns”.
Conductor Perry So was born in Hong Kong in 1982, where he received early musical training in piano, organ, violin, viola, and composition. He later earned a BA in Comparative Literature from Yale University with a specialization in 20th-century Central European music and literature. During that period he founded an academic orchestra and conducted lyrical productions with the graduates. In 2008 he studied conducting at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore under the tutelage of Maestro Gustav Meier, receiving the First Prize and the Special Prize at the 5th Edition of the St. Petersburg Prokofiev International Conducting Competition. After this recognition he was appointed Assistant Director and then Associate Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and later he will be invited to conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Principality of Asturias Symphony Orchestra.
Having already consolidated his presence on five continents, Perry So has recently debuted with the San Francisco Symphony and has occupied the pits of the Royal Danish Opera -The Magic Flute- and the Yale Opera -Eugene Onegin- as opera director. Among the latest milestones in his career, three important tours stand out: a tour of Milan conducting the Nuremberg Symphony, another through the Balkans in 2013 with the Zagreb Philharmonic, and a third seven-week tour of South Africa conducting three orchestras in which he performed Verdi’s Requiem in the framework of the South African National Arts Festival.
Besides these projects and invitations, Perry 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 of The Hague or the London Philharmonic, as well as half a dozen Spanish orchestras. He has also served as assistant to such renowned teachers as Edo de Waart, Esa Pekka-Salonen, Gustavo Dudamel, Lorin Maazel and John Adams.
Perry So is a member of the Music Conducting faculty at the Manhattan School of Music and also has a large body of recordings to his credit leading the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the BBC Concert Orchestra, repeatedly earning recognition from the criticism and being laureate in 2021 with the Diapason d’Or.
Manuel Hernández-Silva makes his debut conducting the OSESP, São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, accompanied by soprano Beatriz Díaz, tenor César Gutiérrez and guitarist Rafael Aguirre with three concerts on May 19, 20 and 21 at the Sala São Paulo, usual venue of the orchestra. The programme, entirely dedicated to Spanish music, includes Falla’s Suite No. 2 of El Sombrero de Tres Picos, the guitar concerts Concierto para una fiesta and Concierto de Aranjuez, which alternate, and a zarzuela gala that includes orchestra excerpts, arias and duets by Jesús Guridi, Reveriano Soutullo, Federico Moreno Torroba, Pablo Sorozábal, Ruperto Chapí, Gerónimo Giménez, Manuel Fernández Caballero, Manuel Penella and Federico Chueca.
With the Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Hernández-Silva has already conducted all the great Latin American orchestras such as the Simón Bolívar Orchestra, of which he was the principal guest conductor, the Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Teatro Colón, the Bogotá Philharmonic or the National Symphony Orchestras. from Chile, Mexico, Colombia or Puerto Rico. His debut with the Orchester National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine will also take place shortly, and upcoming invitations include the Tucson Symphony, Orquesta de Valencia, Sinfónica de Galicia, Arctic Philharmonic, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Orchester National du Pays du Loire, National Cyprus Orchestra, etc.
Since she was invited by Riccardo Muti to sing Paisiello’s Missa Defunctorum at the Salzburg Festival or the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and the role of Diana de Iphigénie in Aulide for the Rome Opera, performances of Beatriz Díaz have been successful in great national coliseums such as the Teatro de la Zarzuela and the Real in Madrid, Arriaga and Euskalduna in Bilbao, Maestranza in Seville, Palacio Carlos V in Granada, Cervantes in Malaga, Baluarte and Gayarre in Pamplona, Pérez Galdós in Las Palmas, Jovellanos in Gijón or Campoamor in Oviedo and on notable international stages such as La Fenice in Venice, Carlo Felice in Genoa, Massimo in Palermo, Comunale in Bologna and Modena, Châtelet in Paris and Colón in Buenos Aires. Likewise, Díaz took part in exclusive concerts held in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Doha, Rabat or Tokyo, among other cities.
Winner of the first prize at the Hilde Zadek international singing competition in Passau, as well as the First Grand Prize and Gold Medal at the María Callas International Singing Competition in Athens, Gutiérrez has sung at the Opéra de la Bastille, Liceu, Opéra de Rome, Staatsoper Berlin, Volksoper and Staatsoper of Vienna, Theater an der Wien, Opera de Montecarlo, Leipzig, Munich or Helsinki, as well as in Tokyo, Athens, Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, Lima and Bogotá. Her repertoire includes more than 35 operas, from Handel’s Acis & Galatea to Piazzolla’s Maria de Buenos Aires. He has sung with directors such as Ricardo Muti, Armin Jordan, Gidon Kremer, Gustavo Dudamel or Hernández-Silva, and under the stage direction of Michael Hampe, Philippe Arlaud, Hugo de Ana or Jorge Lavelli, in addition to the Lied and oratorio repertoire.
Pacho Flores begins an American tour that will bring him to Chicago, IL, Portland, ME, and Delaware, OH, after an intense period in which he has performed the Spanish and USA premieres of Paquito D’Rivera’s new trumpet concerto, Concerto Venezolano, with the Valencia and San Diego orchestras; the South American premiere of Roberto Sierra’s new trumpet concerto, Salseando, with the Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil; his Spanish debut as a conductor with the Murcia Symphony orchestra premiering Leo Rondón’s Concierto de Mar, new concerto for Venezuelan cuatro and orchestra, as well as two of his new compositions, Heterónimos, for trumpet and small orchestra, and Preludio and Fugue for Strings; and the absolute premiere of his own Albares, Concerto for flugelhorn, releasing three new prototypes of flugelhorns, with the Tenerife Symphony, besides other important concerts in Spain with the Castilla y León Symphony and the Gran Canaria Philharmonic. This American tour includes a chamber concert for the Music Institute of Chicago, Pacho’s debut with the Portland Symphony playing Arturo Márquez’s Concierto de Otoño under Josep Caballé-Domenech, and his largely postponed debut with the Ohio Central Symphony and his friend Jaime Morales, in which Pacho will perform Neruda’s Concerto for corno da caccia as well as Márquez’s concerto.
Shortly after this, he will play the French premiere of Sierra’s Salseando with the Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine under Manuel Hernández-Silva, and the absolute premiere of Igmar Alderete’s Concierto Mambí with the Orquesta de Córdoba led by its principal conductor Carlos Domínguez-Nieto. This will be prior to his engagement with Alondra de la Parra and her project The Impossible Orchestra; his three appearances as a Resident Artist in La Virée Classique (The Classical Spree) of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra on his triple role as soloist, conductor and composer; and his performance on the premiere of Daniel Freiberg’s new trumpet concerto, Historias de Flores y Tangos, with the Minería Symphony Orchestra under Carlos Miguel Prieto, with whom Pacho will also launch his last recording for Deutsche Grammophon, which already includes some of these new trumpet concertos dedicated to him by Arturo Márquez and Paquito D’Rivera, together with Efrain Oscher’s Concierto Mestizo and Daniel Freiberg’s Latin American Chronicles.
Serbian pianist Misha Dacić joins ACM Concert’s roster for worldwide management. After his American debut at the Discovery Series of the Miami International Piano Festival, Misha Dacić quickly became a sought-after soloist who captured audiences throughout the United States performing in venues such as Ravinia’s Rising Stars Series in Chicago, Gilmore Keyboard Festival, Steinway Hall New York, Xavier Classical Piano Series in Cincinnati, Frederic Chopin Society’s Concert Series in Minneapolis, among numerous others.
Misha Dacić appeared in solo recitals as well as a guest soloist throughout Central and South America, Europe, Russia, Middle East and Japan. He performed at the Martha Argerich Project Festival in Lugano, at Mendelssohn’s house in Leipzig, at Sergiu Celibidache Festival in Bucharest, at the Festival Raritäten der Klaviermusik in Husum, at the International Piano Festival En Blanco & Negro in Mexico City, at the Oji Hall in Tokyo, and with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra at Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro. In 2009 Misha Dacić joined the legendary violinist Ida Haendel on a tour in Japan, performing with her all over the world ever since. One of their live performances was captured on a DVD released by VAI. Misha Dacić in Recital, featuring several live performances, was also released by VAI in 2009. Celebrating Franz Liszt’s 200th anniversary in 2011, Dacić’s Liszt album, released by Piano Classics, was greatly received by the critic worldwide. In 2018, Brilliant Classics released Dacić’s album featuring works by A. Scriabin.
In 2016 Misha Dacić gave a premier of his two-piano arrangement of Rachmaninoff Choral Symphony The Bells at Rachmaninoff estate museum in Ivanovka, Russia, and was appointed artistic director of the Rahmaninoff Festival at the same venue. Born into a family with musical tradition, and having taken first lessons from his father, Misha Dacić has been performing in public since the age of ten. Kemal Gekić, Lazar Berman, and Jorge Luis Prats are counted among his mentors. Misha Dacić holds his current posts as professor of piano at the Academia Galamian in Malaga, at Escuela Internacional de Musica Alberto Jonas in Valencia, and at Escuela de Alta Especialización Musical ‘Musikae’ in Madrid.
Delyana Lazarova is a young conductor with a quickly growing international career. She is the 2020 First-prize winner of Siemens-Hallé International Competition for Conductors, the newly-appointed Assistant Conductor to Sir Mark Elder at the Hallé Symphony Orchestra, and Music Director of the Hallé Youth Orchestra in Manchester, England. Ms. Lazarova is also the winner of the NRTA International Conducting Competition in Tirana, in 2019. Delyana has received James Conlon Conducting Award at the Aspen Music Festival, and has won the Bruno Walter Conducting Scholarship at the Cabrillo Festival, California in 2017 and 2018. Ms. Lazarova is one of the 12 selected candidates for the first edition of the International Conducting Competition for women La Maestra, that will take place in Paris in September, 2020.
Delyana Lazarova has worked with orchestras in Europe and North America. Among them are London Classical Soloists in England, Südwestdeutsch Philharmonie Konstanz and Meiningen Staatstheater Orchestra in Germany, the Janacek Philharmonia Ostrava and Hradec Philharmonic Orchestra in Czech Republic, St. Christofer Chamber Orchestra in Lithuania, Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra in Greece, Albanian Radio and Television Orchestra, Olten Philharmonic Orchestra in Turkey, Pazardjik Symphony Orchestra and Sofia Sinfonietta in Bulgaria, Estonian Festival Orchestra, Mahler Festival Orchestra, Colorado and Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra in the States. Delyana’s future engagements for 2020/2021 season include concerts with Hallé Symphony Orchestra in England, Il Solisti Aquilani Orchestra in Italy, the Hungarian Radio Orchestra in Budapest, the Bulgarian National Radio Orchestra in Sofia, and Collegium Musicum Basel, in Switzerland. Ms. Lazarova will make her opera debut in a production of Verdi’s Nabucco, in Tyl theater in Plzeň, Czech Republic. Next summer Delyana will be returning as a conducting fellow at the Aspen Music Festival in USA.
Delyana Lazarova has a Master Degree in Conducting from Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK), in the class of Prof. Johannes Schlaefli. Ms. Lazarova has also worked and studied in masterclasses with Bernard Haitink, Paavo Järvi, Leonard Slatkin, Mathias Pintscher, Robert Spano, Larry Rachleff, and Mark Stringer. She recently assisted Cristian Mâcelaru in a concert, featuring the cello concerto “Three Continents” by Nico Muhli/Sven Helbig/Zhou Long with the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne, Germany. Delyana also has a Master degree in Violin Performance from the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, in the class of Prof. Mauricio Fuks, where she received a special scholarship for artistic excellence.
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