Christian Vásquez conducts the Tampere Philharmonic in a program that includes the absolute premiere of the new trumpet concerto by Tuomas Turriago, commissioned by the orchestra itself from the Colombian-Finnish composer and which will feature the Venezuelan trumpeter Pacho Flores as soloist. The concert, which is completed with Fandangos by Roberto Sierra, Glosa Sinfónica Margariteña, by Inocente Carreño, and Concierto de Otoño by Arturo Márquez, will take place next Friday, April 5 at 7:00 p.m. at the Tampere Hall.
Christian Vásquez was born in Caracas in 1984, he began his music studies as a violinist and member of the renowned musical education program ‘El Sistema’. In 2006 he began his studies in orchestral conducting under the tutelage of maestro José Antonio Abreu, and that same year he was named Music Director of the José Félix Ribas Youth Symphony, in the state of Aragua. He was a Dudamel scholarship recipient during the 2009/10 season. Following his debut with the Gävle Symphony Orchestra in October 2009, one of his first appearances in Europe, Christian Vásquez was appointed its Principal Guest Conductor, a position he held between 2010 and 2013. In 2010 he was also named Music Director of the Teresa Carreño Symphony Orchestra from Venezuela, and has continued to lead it since 2017, when it changed its name to Orquesta Juan Jose Landaeta. Christian Vásquez became Principal Conductor of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra at the beginning of the 2013/14 season, thus inaugurating an initial four-year mandate that would be extended for two more years until 2019. In the 2015/16 season he became Principal Guest Conductor of the Het Gelders Orkest (Arnhem Symphony Orchestra), beginning his tenure with a tour of the Netherlands. He was recently also named associate director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony.
Tuomas Turriago (1979) is a Finnish composer, pianist and conductor of Colombian origin. Since 2004 he has served as an accompanying senior lecturer at the Tampere University of Applied Sciences. Turriago is a founding member and director of the Tampere Chamber Opera Association. He has conducted the City Orchestras of Vaasa, Seinäjoki and Mikkeli, and TampereRaw, the Tampere Chamber Orchestra and the Brass Band of the Tampere Philharmonic.