The New Haven Symphony Orchestra Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Perry So has been appointed as its next Music Director. Perry will assume the title of Music Director beginning with the 2024-2025 season, succeeding Alasdair Neale, who will end his five-year tenure with the orchestra in May 2024. The announcement was made this morning at a press conference held at the Stetson Branch of the New Haven Free Public Library. NHSO Board of Directors President Keith B. Churchwell, MD says: We are truly excited that Maestro So has agreed to join the NHSO as its Music Director beginning with our 2024-25 season. His ties to the New Haven area coupled with his expert musicianship and his great desire to invest in the New Haven community along multiple avenues will continue the work that has matured under Maestro Neale’s leadership over the past four years despite extremely challenging circumstances. We thank Alasdair for his wonderful work and residency with the Symphony and look forward in the coming years to Perry’s tenure with the NHSO!
Perry So is currently Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra. 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. Perry says: I am deeply honored to be entrusted with the artistic leadership of the New Haven Symphony — the first US professional orchestra I heard when I arrived in this country when I was 18, in the city that my wife and I love and called home for a decade. When I came back this March to work with the orchestra, I encountered an artistically adventurous group of musicians motivated by a profound love for music and dedicated to serving the community. The commitment at every level of the organization to telling a fuller story of our unique American musical heritage than ever before — and doing so in a way that gives voice to those great talents who have been unjustly excluded — gives me great excitement for what we will be able to accomplish together in the years ahead. I look forward to conversations with all of our partners in the weeks and months ahead to learn how we can best serve the New Haven community together. Most of all, I look forward to the many moments of musical joy that we will share in the years to come.
The New Haven Symphony Orchestra’s search process began in 2021 with the formation of a search committee comprising NHSO Board Directors, musicians, and community leaders. After a rigorous screening process of more than 200 applicants from across the globe, the search committee invited four finalists, including So, to rehearse and conduct the orchestra. Throughout the audition process, the search committee received input from the orchestra’s musicians, audience members, community stakeholders, and administrative staff. We are thrilled to welcome Perry So as the next Music Director of the NHSO, says NHSO Concertmaster David Southorn. With his captivating presence on stage and inspiring performance this past spring, we are excited for the artistic journey that lies ahead under his leadership in New Haven.
The fourth-oldest orchestra in America, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra’s exceptional and accessible performances and education programs reach more than 40,000 audience members and 20,000 students each year. Innovative programming and a dedication to the commission of new works inspires deeper audience engagement and meaningful artistic and educational collaborations. Through the nationally-acclaimed Harmony Fellowship program, as well as numerous award-winning education and community engagement programs, the Symphony strives to be a leader for racial equity in the arts.
Pacho Flores and Hernández-Silva meet again for a joint debut and a double program with the Galician Symphony Orchestra, where Pacho is artist in residence this season. The first program will be part of the Easter workshop of the Galician Youth Symphony Orchestra and include Concierto de Otoño, by Arturo Márquez, and Albares, a concert for flugelhorn by Pacho himself, together with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. This concert will take place at the Palacio de la Ópera de Coruña on April 9. The second program, a subscription concert, will feature Kalinnikov’s Symphony No. 1, Paquito de Rivera’s Concerto Venezolano and the world premiere of Altar de Bronce, a trumpet concerto by Gabriela Ortiz dedicated to Pacho and jointly commissioned by the OSG with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Minería Symphony Orchestra, the New World Symphony and the San Diego Symphony. These concerts will take place at the Ferrol Auditorium and the Palacio de la Ópera de A Coruña on April 13 and 14, respectively. A few days later, on April 18, Pacho will offer a chamber recital with the guitarist Jesús ‘Pingüino’ González within the season of the Philharmonic Society of A Coruña as part of his artistic residence with the OSG, performing the repertoire of his album ENTROPÍA. González will also participate as a cuatrista in D’Rivera’s work the previous week.
Gabriela Ortiz is one of the most prominent composers of today. She has received commissions from soloists and orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, National Orchestra of Britain, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Galician Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta de Minería, Kroumata and Amadinda Percussion Ensembles, Kronos Quartet, Latin American Quartet, Southwest Chamber Music, Tambuco Percussion Quartet, Hungarian Philharmonic Orchestra, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, etc. Ortiz has been distinguished with the National Prize for Arts and Literature of Mexico, the Mexican Academy of Arts, the First Prize in the Silvestre Revueltas National Chamber Music Contest and the Alicia Urreta Composition Contest, or the Mozart Medal Award, among others.
Pacho Flores with Vicente Honorato, CEO of STOMVI
Altar de Bronce is the seventh trumpet concerto to emerge from the project of shared commissions for new trumpet concertos by prominent composers such as Arturo Márquez, Paquito D’Rivera, Roberto Sierra, Efraín Oscher, Christian Lindberg, Daniel Freiberg and Gabriela Ortiz. A unique peculiarity of Pacho Flores’ concerts is the amount of instruments that he uses. In close collaboration with the R+D department of the STOMVI company, they have jointly developed new prototypes in various keys, all of them with four pistons. If the fourth piston alone manages to widen the tessitura of the instrument, the sum of several of these instruments with low, medium and high registers in each work multiplies both the range as well as the timbre and color in an extraordinary way, since he combines cornets, trumpets and flugelhorn. For these concerts with OSG, Pacho will use up to 10 different trumpets: C cornet, D cornet, soprano F cornet, soprano G cornet; Bb, C, A and D flugelhorns, C trumpet and D trumpet, distributed as follows: Arturo Márquez, C trumpet, Bb flugelhorn, soprano F cornet; Pacho Flores, C flugelhorn, low A flugelhorn and soprano D flugelhorn, (all of them new prototypes made specifically for this concert); Paquito D’Rivera, C cornet, C trumpet, soprano G cornet, Bb flugelhorn, soprano F cornet; Gabriela Ortiz, D cornet, Bb flugelhorn, C and D trumpets.
This is the list of orchestras that have participated in the project, with the names of the conductors and dates of premieres, either already performed or planned, and all of them, naturally, by Pacho Flores.
Arturo Márquez – Concierto de Otoño
National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico (Mexico), Carlos Miguel Prieto, September 7 and 9, 2018; Tucson Symphony Orchestra (USA), José Luis Gómez, January 25 and 27, 2019; Hyogo PAC Orchestra (Japan), Michiyoshi Inoue, May 24, 25 and 26, 2019; Oviedo Filarmonía (Spain), Lucas Macías, August 14, 2019.
Paquito D’Rivera – Concerto Venezolano
Minería Symphony Orchestra (Mexico), Carlos Miguel Prieto, September 1, 2019; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (United Kingdom), Domingo Hindoyan, November 11 and 14, 2021; Valencia Orchestra (Spain), Hernández-Silva, February 3, 2022; San Diego Symphony (USA), Rafael Payare, February 25, 26 and March 2, 2022.
Roberto Sierra – Salseando
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (UK), Domingo Hindoyan, January 9, 2020; Symphony Orchestra of the Region of Murcia (Spain), Hernández-Silva, December 17, 2020; Symphony Orchestra of the State of São Paulo (Brazil), Carlos Miguel Prieto, March 31, April 1 and 2, 2022; Orchestre National de Bordeaux Aquitaine (France), Hernández-Silva, June 3, 2022.
Daniel Freiberg – Historias de Flores y Tangos
Oviedo Filarmonía (Spain), Lucas Macías, October 23, 2021; Minería Symphony Orchestra (Mexico), Carlos Miguel Prieto, August 20 and 21, 2022; Arctic Philharmonic (Norway), Hernández-Silva, March 16 and 17, 2023; Walla Walla Symphony (USA), Yaacob Bergman, May 2, 2023.
Efraín Oscher – Danzas Latinas
Royal Philharmonic of Galicia (Spain), Hernández-Silva; November 21 and 22, 2019.
Gabriela Ortiz – Altar de Bronce
Galician Symphony Orchestra (Spain), Hernández-Silva; April 14 and 15, 2023; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (United Kingdom), D. Hindoyan; July 8, 2023; Minería Symphony Orchestra (Mexico), Carlos Miguel Prieto, August 19 and 20, 2023; New World Symphony (USA), Carlos M. Prieto; February 9 and 10, 2024; San Diego Symphony (USA), Rafael Payare, February 16 and 17, 2024.
Christian Lindberg – Caballos Mágicos
Royal Philharmonia of Galicia (Spain), Paul Daniel, May 27 and 28, 2021; Swedish Chamber Orchestra (Sweden), Christian Lindberg, September 30, 2021; Central Ohio Symphony (USA), Jaime Morales, March 17, 2024; Bilkent Symphony Orchestra (Turkey), Christian Lindberg, 2024/25 season.
D. Freiberg, A. Márquez, P. D’Rivera, P. Flores and C. M. Prieto during the recording of ESTIRPE for Deutsche Grammophon
In addition, throughout this period Pacho Flores has also premiered other concerts that some composers have written for him on their own initiative or that have been commissioned by other orchestras in parallel to this project: Pacho Flores: Cantos y revueltas (11/12/13 January 2018, Real Filharmonía de Galicia, Hernández-Silva); Giancarlo Castro: Stunning Trumpet (February 23, 2018, Ulster Orchestra, Rafael Payare); Alain Trudel: Preach, pour trumpette et orchestre (March 14, 2018, Orchester Symphonique de Laval, Alain Trudel); Efraín Oscher: Apex, Double concerto for clarinet and trumpet (August 31, 2018, Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, Markus Bosch); Daniel Freiberg: Latin American Chronicles (4/5/6 January 2019, Het Gelders Orkest, Christian Vásquez); Christian Lindberg: Un sueño morisco, double concerto for trumpet and trombone (March 21/22, 2019, RTVE Orchestra, Christian Lindberg); Arturo Sandoval: Trumpet Concerto (July 11, 2019, Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra, Enrique Diemecke); Eleanor Alberga: Invocation (20 September 2021, London Schools Symphony Orchestra, Peter Ash); Pacho Flores: Heterónimos, concertino for trumpet (April 24, 2022, Symphony of the Region of Murcia, Flores; Albares, concert for flugelhorn, April 29, 2022, Tenerife Symphony, Christian Vásquez); Igmar Alderete: Mambí, Concerto for trumpet and orchestra (June 16 and 17, 2022, Orquesta de Córdoba, Carlos Domínguez-Nieto); Sonia Morales: Divertimento Caribeño, No. 6 (March 17, 2024, Central Ohio Symphony, Jaime Morales); Tuomas Turriago: Trumpet Concerto (April 5, 2024, Tampere Philharmonia, Christian Vásquez). Other concerts are currently being created by composers such as Alonso Toro, Mauricio González Brito or Igmar Alderete.
Manuel Hernández-Silva conducts the opening concert of the Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra season at the Teatro Colón next Saturday, March 25, with a program that includes the Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 by Brahms, with Sergei Dogadin as soloist, and Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 by the same composer. This is the first of the two concerts that Hernández-Silva will conduct this season at the Buenos Aires Philharmonic, where he will return again on July 1 to perform Mozart’s Sinfonía Concertante for Viola and Violin, Diarios VI, by Gerardo Gandini, and Redes, by Silvestre Revueltas.
Hernández-Silva has recently conducted the Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire and the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, all of them with several premieres, such as the trumpet concertos by Roberto Sierra and Daniel Freiberg, the Boceto Sinfónico by Manuel Moreno Buendía, Musas y Resuello and Cantos y Revueltas by Pacho Flores, Lágrimas de Tahuarí by Gabriel Sivak, or Rapsodia Latina by Gonzalo Grau, along with other repertoire works by Tchaikovsky, Bernstein, Ginastera, Ravel, Saint-Saëns or Piazzolla. After this concert in Argentina, Hernández-Silva will return to Spain for a two-week stay with the Galician Symphony Orchestra, with which, together with works by Kalinnikov and Tchaikovsky, he will again premiere new pieces such as Altar de Bronce, the trumpet concerto that Gabriela Ortiz has written for Pacho Flores as a shared commission between the Galician Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Orquesta de Minería in Mexico, the New World Symphony and the San Diego Symphony orchestras.
In Galicia, the first week includes the workshop of the Galician Youth Symphony Orchestra, a task of particular interest to Hernández-Silva, who was Music and Artistic Director of the Andalusian Youth Orchestra and has recently conducted the Orchestra of Musikene (Higher School of Music of the Basque Country). Upcoming commitments include orchestras from Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Sweden, Poland, Singapore and Spain.
Manuel Hernández-Silva, Pacho Flores and Leo Rondón come together again for several new premieres, this time with the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra in Norway, with which Pacho recorded his third album for Deutsche Grammophon, Fractales (2018), under the baton of Christian Lindberg. Two works by Pacho Flores will see the World premiere of their new version for full orchestra on this occasion: Musas y Resuello, a divertimento originally conceived for brass ensemble, premiered in 2021 by the Bogota Philharmonic Brass Ensemble, and Cantos y Revueltas, originally written for trumpet, Venezuelan Cuatro and strings. The latter was premiered by the same protagonists and the Real Filharmonía de Galicia in January 2018, a premiere that was recorded for the homonymous album (2019), also for the yellow label. The concerts will take place on March 16 and 17 at the Kulturhus in Tromsø and at the Stormen Konserthus in Bodø respectively, both at 7:00 p.m.
Historias de Flores y Tangos by Daniel Freiberg will be a premiere in Norway as well. Also part of the project of shared commissions for new trumpet concerts promoted by Pacho Flores, this piece has already seen its Spanish and Mexican premieres with the Oviedo Filarmonía and the Minería Symphony Orchestra conducted by their respective Music Directors, Lucas Macías and Carlos Miguel Prieto. Historias de Flores y Tangos will conclude its cycle of premieres this spring with the US Walla Walla Symphony under Yaakov Bergman. The program with the Arctic Philharmonic also includes Estancia ballet suite, by Alberto Ginastera.
Copyright RFG
The following week, Hernández-Silva and Pacho Flores take similar roads, as one goes to Argentina to open the concert season of the Buenos Aires Philharmonic while the other goes to Chile to play with the National Symphony Orchestra. Shortly afterwards, their paths will cross again at the Galician Symphony Orchestra in a double program that includes the World premiere of Altar de Bronce, by Gabriela Ortiz, together with the revival of other concerts that have already been premiered, such as the Concerto Venezolano by Paquito D’Rivera, the Concierto de Otoño, by Arturo Márquez, both of which also make part of the aforementioned project of shared commissions, and Albares, the flugelhorn concerto by Pacho Flores himself.
Further coincidences will take place, since Hernández-Silva and Leo Rondón will meet again with the National Symphony of Colombia for the World premiere of Concierto del Mar, for Venezuelan Cuatro and orchestra, composed by Leo himself. Next season holds even more appointments and premieres from Sweden to Singapore and from Poland to Spain, which will be announced in due course.
Manuel Hernández-Silva makes yet another debut with a French national orchestra, this time the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, after his debut last June with the Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine. Just arrived from the US after conducting two concerts with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, in which he conducted the American premiere of works by Manuel Moreno Buendía and Roberto Sierra, Manuel Hernández-Silva will lead the orchestra in five concerts that will take place in Nantes and the Loire region between 4 and 12 March. In addition to the absolute premieres of Gonzalo Grau and Gabriel Sivak, commissioned by the ONPL, the program also includes works by Saint-Saëns, Piazzolla, Ravel and Aldemaro Romero, with the violinist Alexis Cárdenas and his quartet as soloists.
After his return to France, Hernández-Silva will debut the following week with the Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic in Bodø and Tromsø, where he will once again conduct several premieres. Two works by Pacho Flores will be World premieres: Musas y resuello, originally conceived for Brass Ensemble, and Cantos y Revueltas, for trumpet, Venezuelan cuatro and strings in their original composition; as well as the Norwegian premiere of Historias de Flores y Tangos, trumpet concerto by Daniel Freiberg. This piece, along with works by other prominent composers such as Arturo Márquez, Roberto Sierra, Paquito D’Rivera, Efraín Oscher, Gabriela Ortiz or Christian Lindberg, is part of the project of shared commissions for new trumpet concertos promoted by Pacho Flores, in which Hernández-Silva has a fundamental role participating in up to five premieres (D’Rivera, Sierra, Freiberg, Oscher and Ortiz) and further renditions of these and other concertos.
Right after this, Manuel Hernández-Silva will travel to Argentina to conduct the opening concert of the symphonic season of the Buenos Aires Philharmonic at the Teatro Colón, in a program that includes Brahms’s Violin Concerto with Frank Peter Zimmermann and his Symphony No. 1. Back in Spain, he will spend two weeks in A Coruña for his debut with the Galician Symphony Orchestra, with the World premiere of Altar de Bronce, Gabriela Ortiz’s trumpet concerto, Paquito D’Rivera’s Concerto Venezolano, whose Spanish premiere he conducted with the Valencia Orchestra last February 2022, and Vassili Kalinnikov’s Symphony No. 1. Along with this debut, he will conduct another concert with the Galician Youth Symphony Orchestra, again with Pacho Flores as soloist, in a program that includes the Concierto de Otoño by Arturo Márquez, Albares, a concert for flugelhorn by Flores himself, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. Later commitments will take him to Colombia, Argentina, Chile, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Poland, Singapore, etc.
