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.