NEC Philharmonia + Lina González-Granados: Montgomery, Shostakovich, & Frank

NEC Philharmonia presents works by Jessie Montgomery, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Gabriela Lena Frank, performed in Jordan Hall and streamed live to your home. This evening's program led by guest conductor and NEC alumna Lina González-Granados.
 

Watch live stream here
 

About Lina González-Granados

Praised for her "attention to orchestral colors" (OperaWire) and ability to create "lightning changes in tempo, meter, and effect" (Boston Musical Intelligencer), Lina González-Granados has distinguished herself nationally and internationally as a talented young conductor of the symphonic and operatic repertoire. Her spirited interpretations of the orchestral repertoire, as well as her dedication to highlighting new and unknown works by Latin-American composers, has earned her international recognition, most recently as a recipient of the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award, and the Third Prize along with the European Concert Hall Association (ECHO) Award of La Maestra Competition at the Paris Philharmonie.

        Lina was the winner of the Fourth Chicago Symphony Orchestra Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition, and became the new Solti Conducting Apprentice under the guidance of Maestro Riccardo Muti, starting in February 2020 and continuing through June 2022. She also holds positions as Conducting Fellow with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Seattle Symphony. The 2020-21 season will include debuts with Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orquesta RTVE, Rochester Philharmonic, OSPA, Kristiansand Symphony, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic, San Antonio Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and Hawaii Symphony. Recent appearances include performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, San Diego Symphony, San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra, Tulsa Opera, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia, and Filarmónica de Medellín. She has had the opportunity to work with world-renowned artists such as Yefim Bronfman, Pinchas Zukerman, Giancarlo Guerrero, Zubin Mehta, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

        Lina is an active and fervent proponent for the inclusion and development of new works for chamber and large orchestra, especially music from Latin-American composers. She is the Artistic Director of Unitas Ensemble, a chamber orchestra she founded that performs the works of Latinx composers, and provides access to free community performances for underserved communities. Her work with Unitas has earned her numerous community awards, most recently a Spark Boston award from the City of Boston. She has also commissioned multiple World, North American, and American premieres, as well as the creation and release of the Unitas Ensemble album Estaciones, recorded alongside the Latin Grammy-winning Cuarteto Latinoamericano.

        From 2017-19, Lina served as the Taki Concordia Fellow, a position created by Maestro Marin Alsop to foster entrepreneurship and talent of female conductors. She has attended the 2019 Tanglewood Conducting Seminar, as well as the Lucerne Festival Masterclass with Maestro Bernard Haitink and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music with Marin Alsop as a recipient of the Bruno Walter Scholarship. She also participated in the Linda and Mitch Hart Institute for Conductors at the Dallas Opera with Maestro Carlo Montanaro and Nicole Paiement, making her the first Hispanic conductor selected for that role.

        Born and raised in Cali, Colombia, Lina made her conducting debut in 2008 with the Youth Orchestra of Bellas Artes in Cali. She holds a Master of Music degree in Conducting with Charles Peltz and a Graduate Diploma in Choral Conducting with Erica Washburn, both from New England Conservatory, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Orchestral Conducting from Boston University. Her principal mentors include Marin Alsop, Bernard Haitink, Bramwell Tovey, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Riccardo Muti.