Presenter

Founded in 1978, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería is an integral part of Mexico's musical life for its ambitious repertoire of works never or rarely heard in the country and its permanent interest in building a sound of excellence. Currently, under the artistic direction of Carlos Miguel Prieto, it has become one of the most dynamic, attractive and prestigious ensembles in Latin America, as evidenced by its Grammy nomination for its recording of the Korngold Violin Concerto with Philippe Quint

In addition to bringing to life great works rarely heard in Mexico (such as Hector Berlioz's Great Mass for the Dead, Ralph Vaughan Williams' Antarctic Symphony or Gustav Mahler's complete orchestral works) through great international interpreters, has also commissioned more than a hundred works that are already contemporary classics of Mexican music, such as Sonatina by Manuel Enríquez, Ficciones by Mario Lavista, Gota de noche by Carlos Sánchez Gutiérrez, Cinco misterios eléusicos by Federico Ibarra Groth, Concierto voltaje by Gabriela Ortiz or Rotor by Enrico Chapela.

In 2016 the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería was awarded the Medalla al Mérito en Ciencias y Artes 2015, granted by the Legislative Assembly of Mexico City, "for its great trajectory and contribution to the culture of Mexico". In 2015 Minería received the prestigious Las Lunas del Auditorio award in the category of "Best Classical Show".

After a virtual season in 2021 that was seen by more than one million people, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería returns to in-person concerts with this Summer Season 2022, whose main objective is to transmit hope and celebrate life with music.

Conductor

Carlos Miguel Prieto was born into a musical family of Spanish and French descent in Mexico City. His charismatic conducting is characterised by its dynamism and the expressivity of his interpretations. Prieto is recognised as a highly influential cultural leader and is the foremost Mexican conductor of his generation.

He was the Music Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, the country’s most important orchestra, from 2007 to 2022. Prieto has also been Music Director of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra since 2006, where he has led the cultural renewal of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. In 2008 he was appointed Music Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería, a hand-picked orchestra which performs a two-month long series of summer programmes in Mexico City. In 2022, Prieto was announced as Music Director Designate of North Carolina Symphony from 2022/23, and will begin his tenure in 2023/24.

Recent highlights include engagements with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the Hallé, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Spanish National Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Strasbourg Philharmonic and Auckland Philharmonia. Prieto is in great demand as a guest conductor with many of the top North American orchestras including Cleveland, Dallas, Toronto, Minnesota, Washington, New World and Houston Symphony, and has enjoyed a particularly close and successful relationship with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra.

Since 2002, alongside Gustavo Dudamel, Prieto has conducted the Youth Orchestra of the Americas (YOA), which draws young musicians from the entire American continent. A staunch proponent of music education, Prieto served as Principal Conductor of the YOA from its inception until 2011 when he was appointed Music Director. In early 2010 he conducted the YOA alongside Valery Gergiev on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the World Economic Forum at Carnegie Hall. In 2018 he conducted the orchestra on a tour of European summer festivals, which included performances at the Rheingau and Edinburgh festivals as well as Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. He has also worked regularly with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and the NYO2 in New York. Prieto is renowned for championing Latin American music, as well as his dedication to new music.
He has conducted over 100 world premieres of works by Mexican and American composers, many of which were commissioned by him. Prieto places equal importance on championing works by Black and African American composers such as Florence Price, Margaret Bonds and Courtney Bryan, amongst others. Prieto has an extensive discography that covers labels including Naxos and Sony. Recent Naxos recordings include Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.2 & Études tableaux Op.33, with Boris Giltburg and the RSNO, which won a 2018 Opus Klassik award and was listed as a Gramophone’s Critics’ Choice, 2017, and a recording of Korngold’s Violin Concerto with violinist Philippe Quint and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería, which received two Grammy nominations. His recording of the Elgar and Finzi Violin Concertos with Ning Feng was released on Channel Classics in November 2018. Carlos Miguel Prieto was recognized by Musical America as the 2019 Conductor of the Year.

A graduate of Princeton and Harvard universities, Prieto studied conducting with Jorge Mester, Enrique Diemecke, Charles Bruck and Michael Jinbo.

Composer

Latin Grammy-nominated Gabriela Ortiz is one of the foremost composers in Mexico today and one of the most vibrant musicians emerging on the international scene. Her musical language achieves an extraordinary and expressive synthesis of tradition and the avant-garde by combining high art, folk music, and jazz in novel, frequently refined, and always personal ways. Her compositions are credited for being both entertaining and immediate as well as profound and sophisticated; she achieves a balance between highly organized structure and improvisatory spontaneity. Gustavo Dudamel, the conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, called her recent work Téenek “one of the most brilliant I have ever directed. Its color, its texture, the harmony, and the rhythm that it contains are all something unique. Gabriela possesses a particular capacity to showcase our Latin identity.”