Christian Vásquez will conduct the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra in two concerts that will take place on November 16 and 19 at the Jing Jing hall in Shanghai and the Grand National Theater in Beijing. The program consists of Guasamacabra, by the recently and prematurely disappeared Paul Desenne, Three Symphonic Versions, by Julián Orbón, and the Symphony No. 10 in E minor Op.93, by Dmitri Shostakovich.
Christian has just conducted the Orchestre Pasdeloup in Paris, the oldest active orchestra in France, and will now have an important presence in Spain leading orchestras such as the Galician Symphony Orchestra, the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of the Region of Murcia, where, among other works, he will conduct the premieres of the Clarinet Concerto by Pacho Flores with Juan Ferrer, the dedicatee of the work, as soloist, or the concert for Venezuelan cuatro by Leo Rondón, with the composer himself as soloist.
Christian Vásquez was Music Director of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra between 2013 and 2019, Principal Guest Conductor of the Het Gelders Orkest in the Netherlands from 2015 to 2020, and of the Gävle Symphony Orchestra between 2010 and 2013. He is also Music Director of the Juan José Landaeta Symphony Orchestra in Venezuela, previously known as the Teresa Carreño Symphony Orchestra, and has conducted other orchestras such as the Philharmonia Orchestra, Residentie Orkest, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Galician Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Konzerthausorchester, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Turku Philharmonic, Philharmonic of Luxembourg, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Mexican National Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Gran Canaria Philharmonic, Estonian National Orchestra, Royal Danish Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra or the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, among many others.
Christian Vásquez and Robert Lakatoš will work together for the first time this coming February 10, with the Polish Baltic Philharmonic to offer a program that includes Henryk Wieniawski’s Violin Concerto No. 1 and Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. Lakatoš recently offered this same concert in Spain together with Manuel Hernández-Silva and the Royal Philharmonic of Galicia. Vásquez is coming off garnering extraordinary reviews leading the Orchestre Pasdeloup and assisting Gustavo Dudamel in Tristán and Isolde at the Paris Opera, where he will return in April to direct a ballet performances.
Robert Lakatoš grew up in a musical family and began his studies at the age of seven in his hometown of Novi Sad at the hands of his father, Imre Lakatoš. He was the youngest student to graduate from the Novi Sad Academy of Arts, where he studied under renowned pedagogue Dejan Mihailović. He continued his training at the Zurich University of the Arts with Rudolf Koelman, where he received a Swiss Lyra Foundation Scholarship for Exceptionally Gifted Musicians, and has attended study programs with leading international violinists such as Aaron Rosand at the New York Summit Music Festival, and Julian Rachlin at the Vienna University of Music and Arts. Robert won first prize at the Pablo Sarasate Competition in Pamplona (2015), as well as previously first prize at the Mary Smart Concerto Competition (New York, 2013), and the prestigious Andrea Postacchini (Fermo, Italy, 2012) or Juventudes Musicals from Romania, who opened the doors to his international career on the main stages of the world.
Christian Vásquez has been Music Director of the Teresa Carreño Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, which he conducted on a notable tour of Europe that took them to London, Lisbon, Toulouse, Munich, Stockholm and Istanbul. He has also been Principal Conductor of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra between 2013 and 2019 and Principal Guest Conductor of the Het Gelders Orkest from 2015 to 2020. Following his debut with the Gävle Symphony Orchestra in 2009, Christian Vásquez was named its Principal Guest Conductor between 2010 and 2013. He has worked with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Residentie Orkest, Orchester de la Suisse Romande, Vienna Radio Symphony, Salzburg Camerata, Russian State Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic and Singapore Symphony. In North America he has conducted the National Arts Center Orchestra (Ottawa) and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, during his participation in their Young Artist Fellowship Program. He has worked with orchestras such as the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Orchester National du Capitole de Toulouse, Symphony of Galicia, Berlin Konzerthausorchester, Prague Radio Symphony, Warsaw Beethoven Festival, Turku Philharmonic, Prague Radio Symphony, Poznan Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, Mexico National, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Basel Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Estonian National, Gran Canaria Philharmonic or Ireland TEN National. His first operatic engagement in Europe was at the Norwegian Opera with Carmen. Upcoming engagements include the Opéra National de Paris as Gustavo Dudamel’s assistant and concerts in Poland, Spain, Norway, Israel, Korea and the US.
After making his debut with the Sinfónica de Baleares in Spain and appearing with the Sinfónica de Navarra, where he is Music and Artistic Director, at the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid within the Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid subscription series, Perry So returns to the US to conduct the Tucson Symphony on February 4 and 5. The program consists of Luigi Dallapiccola’s Piccola Musica Notturna, Schumann’s piano concerto with Michelle Cann as soloist, and Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4, Italiana.
Perry So was born in 1982 in Hong Kong, where he received his early musical training in piano, organ, violin, viola, and composition. He received a BA in Comparative Literature from Yale University with a concentration 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 at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore under the tutelage of teacher Gustav Meier and in 2008 he received the First Prize and the Special Prize at the 5th Edition of the Prokofiev International 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 and artistic collaborator of the Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, and is also a member of the Orchestra Conducting Department of the Manhattan School of Music. Since the 2022/23 season, he is Music and Artistic Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra.
Present in concert halls on five continents, Perry So has recently made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony, his European operatic debut at the Royal Danish Opera with The Magic Flute, and his American debut at the Yale Opera with Eugene Onegin. Outstanding performances include a tour of Italy with the Nuremberg Symphony, a seven-week tour of South Africa leading three different orchestras in which he conducted Verdi’s Requiem in Cape Town for the South African National Arts Festival, or his return to the podium of the San Francisco Symphony. He has had a long-standing collaboration with the Royal Danish Theater and the Royal Danish Orchestra both in the concert hall and in the opera and ballet pit. He has been a frequent guest at Walt Disney Hall and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and in 2013 he toured the Balkans leading the Zagreb Philharmonic in the first series of cultural exchanges established after the breakup of Yugoslavia.
Other debuts in recent years include appearances with the Cleveland and Minnesota Orchestras, the Navarra, Málaga, Tenerife, Nuremberg, Israel, New Zealand, Houston, Detroit, New Jersey and Shanghai Symphony Orchestras, the London, Szezcin, Seoul and China Philharmonics, the Residentie Orkest of The Hague and the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie of Koblenz. His work in the recording studio spans 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 January 2012. His broad musical interests include numerous World premieres on four continents, as well as reintroducing Renaissance and Baroque repertoire into symphony programs, most notably 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 of Performing Arts and the Yale School of Music. Perry, his wife Anna and their daughter Caroline divide their time between Boston, Saint Paul, where Anna is Professor of History of Science at the University of Minnesota, and Pamplona.
Perry So returns to the podium of the Navarra Symphony, of which he is the Music and Artistic Director since this season, to conduct a program that includes Bach’s Ricercare a 6, arranged by Anton Webern; Teoton, concerto for sheng and orchestra by Jukka Tiensuu (1948), performed by Wu Wei, the world’s most renowned performer of this Chinese wind instrument, and Beethoven’s Symphony No 3, Op. 55 Eroica.
Perry So was elected principal and artistic director of the Navarra Symphony Orchestra for a period of three years, from this season until the end of the 2024/25 season. Perry So was born in 1982 in Hong Kong, where he received his early musical training in piano, organ, violin, viola, and composition. He received a BA in Comparative Literature from Yale University with a specialization in Central European music and literature of the modernist period, a period in which he founded an academic orchestra and directed the university’s opera company. He studied conducting at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore under the tutelage of Maestro Gustav Meier and in 2008 received the First Prize and the Special Prize at the 5th Edition of the St. Petersburg Prokofiev International Conducting Competition. Following this recognition, he was appointed Assistant Director and then Associate Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel Conducting Fellow at the Los Angeles Philharmonic and artistic collaborator of the Principality of Asturias Symphony Orchestra, and is also a member of the Conducting Department of Orchestra of the Manhattan School of Music.
Present in concert halls on five continents, Perry So has recently made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony, his operatic debut in Europe was at the Royal Danish Opera with The Magic Flute, and his American debut at the Yale Opera with Eugene Onegin. Some notable performances include a tour of Italy with the Nuremberg Symphony, a seven-week tour of South Africa leading three different orchestras in which he conducted Verdi’s Requiem in Cape Town as part of the South African National Arts Festival, or his return to the podium of the San Francisco Symphony. He has had a long-standing collaboration with the Royal Danish Theater and the Royal Danish Orchestra both in the concert hall and in the opera and ballet pit. He has been a frequent guest at Walt Disney Hall and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and in 2013 toured the Balkan Peninsula leading the Zagreb Philharmonic in the first series of cultural exchanges established after the breakup of Yugoslavia.
Other debuts in recent years include appearances with the Cleveland and Minnesota Orchestras, the Navarra, Malaga, Tenerife, Nuremberg, Israel, New Zealand, Houston, Detroit, New Jersey and Shanghai Symphony Orchestras, the London Philharmonics, Szezcin, Seoul and China, the Residentie Orkest in The Hague and the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie in Koblenz. His recording studio work covers a wide cross-section 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 he received the Diapason d’Or in January 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, most notably 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 of Performing Arts and the Yale School of Music. . Perry, his wife Anna, and his daughter Caroline divide their time between Boston, Saint Paul, where Anna is a professor of history of science at the University of Minnesota, and Pamplona.
Christian Vásquez returns this week to the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, of which he was Chief Conductor between 2013 and 2019, to face a program that includes: Manuel De Falla: Suite No. 1 of The Three-cornered Hat, Gabriel Fauré: Elegy for cello and orchestra, Keiko Abe: Prism Rhapsody for marimba and orchestra, Joaquín Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra, and Alberto Ginastera: Suite del ballet Estancia. It is a festive program that will serve as the closing of the symphonic course in the Norwegian city and that will take place in the Fartein Valen, Stavanger Concert Hall. Vásquez will be accompanied at this event by soloists Liv Opdal, cello, Kristina Vårlid, guitar, and Akane Tominaga, percussion.
Christian Vásquez has also been Principal Guest Conductor of the Gävle Symphony Orchestra, in Norway, between 2010 and 2013, and of the Het Gelders Orkest in the Netherlands between 2015 and 2020, and continues to be linked to the Venezuelan Children’s and Youth Orchestra System as musical director of the Juan José Landaeta Symphony Orchestra, formerly the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra, a position he assumed in 2010. Previously he had been the musical director of the José Félix Ribas Youth Orchestra.
He has worked with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Residentie Orkest, Orchester de la Suisse Romande, Vienna Radio Symphony, Salzburg Camerata, Russian State Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic or Singapore Symphony. In North America he has conducted the National Arts Center Orchestra (Ottawa) and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, during his participation in their Young Artist Fellowship programme. Since then he has conducted orchestras such as the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Galicia Symphony, Berlin Konzerthausorchester, Prague Radio Symphony, Warsaw Beethoven Festival, Turku Philharmonic, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Warsaw Radio Symphony, Prague Philharmonic, Poznan Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, Basel Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Estonian National Orchestra, Royal Danish Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra or the RTE National Orchestra of Ireland. His first operatic engagement in Europe was at the Norwegian Opera with Carmen and he has recently conducted at the Opéra National de Paris as Gustavo Dudamel’s assistant. In Spain he has conducted the Philharmonic of Gran Canaria and Symphonies of Galicia, Castilla y León, Tenerife, the Principality of Asturias and Navarra.
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