Known for his charisma and expressive interpretations, Mexican conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto has established himself not just as a major figure in the orchestra world but also as an influential cultural leader, educator, and a champion of new music. In a significant career development, he will start his tenure as Music Director of the North Carolina Symphony at the beginning of the 2023-24 season.

From 2007 to 2022, he was the music director of the Sinfónica Nacional de México, the country’s leading ensemble, and significantly raised the caliber of the orchestra. He was also music director of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra since 2006, where he helped lead the cultural renewal of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, stepping down at the end of the 2022-23 season. In 2008, he was appointed music director of the Sinfónica de Minería, a hand-picked orchestra that performs a two-month series of summer programs in Mexico City.

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 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 successful relationship with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the North Carolina Symphony.

Prieto made his BBC Proms debut at Royal Albert Hall on August 5, 2023 with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.

Since 2002, alongside Gustavo Dudamel, Prieto has conducted the 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 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, among others.

Prieto has an extensive discography that includes the Naxos and Sony labels. Recent Naxos recordings include Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.2 & Études tableaux Op.33, with Boris Giltburg and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra RSNO, which won a 2018 Opus Klassik award and was listed as a Gramophone’s Critics’ Choice; and his 2017 recording of Korngold’s Violin Concerto with violinist Philippe Quint and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería received two GRAMMY nominations. His recording of the Elgar and Finzi Violin Concertos with Ning Feng was released on Channel Classics in November 2018.

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.

Pacho Flores was awarded First Prize in the Maurice André International Trumpet Competition, the most renowned trumpet contest in the world, as well as first prize in the Philip Jones International Brass Ensemble Competition, and first prize in the International Competition "Città di Porcia." Trained in the marvelous Orchestra System for Youth and Children in Venezuela, he received top recognition for his performances, recitals, and recordings as a soloist.

Capable of managing classical or popular styles indistinctively, Flores adds to his captivating interpretations a great deal of energy tinged with the most beautiful instrumental colors. Acting as soloist, he has performed with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Kiev, Camerata from St. Petersburg, Orchestral Ensemble from Paris, Orchestre de la Garde Républicaine, NHK Orchestra from Japan, Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo, Philharmonic Orchestra of Osaka, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra from Venezuela, Symphony Orchestra of Dusseldorf, and the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra amongst many others. He has also given recitals in concert halls such as the Carnegie Hall in New York, Pleyel Hall in Paris, and the Opera City in Tokyo.

Serving as one of the founding members of the Simón Bolívar Brass Quintet, he has taken part in numerous tours around Europe, South America, United States, and Japan. An experienced orchestral musician, Flores has held the leading trumpet position in the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, Saito Kinen Orchestra from Japan, and the Symphony Orchestra of Miami under the musical direction of Maestros like Claudio Abbado, Sir Simon Rattle, Seiji Ozawa, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Rafael Frübeck of Burgos, Eduardo Marturet, Gustavo Dudamel, and many others.

Founding Director of the Latin-American Trumpet Academy in Venezuela, he fosters a promising generation of young talents. Flores is keen on promoting Contemporary Music and provides important contributions through the performance and interpretation of his instrument. His repertoire includes commissions and premieres of works by composers such as Roger Boutry, Efraín Oscher, Giancarlo Castro, Santiago Báez, Juan Carlos Nuñez, and Sergio Bernal. Recently he has carried out an important concert tour across Norway and Austria with the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Maestro and Composer Christian Lindberg, interpreting his concert Akbank Bunka, a piece for trumpet and orchestra, making his debut at the Fiestpielhaus of Salzburg, and at the Musikverein of Vienna. His first album La Trompeta Venezolana was released by the record label Guataca Producciones.

An artist from the Stomvi family, he plays instruments that have been exclusively manufactured for him by this renowned firm and is actively involved in the developments and innovations of his instruments. Pacho Flores is a Deutsche Grammophon exclusive artist with already three recordings, Cantar with Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin and Christian Vásquez; Entropía, Gold Medal of the Global Music Awards; Fractales with Arctic Philharmonic and Christian Lindberg; and the double CD-DVD Cantos y Revueltas with Real Filharmonía de Galicia and Manuel Hernández-Silva.

Héctor Molina is an exceptional Venezuelan composer and cuatro player who earned the Bachelor of Music Degree in Composition from UNEARTE (Experimental University of the Arts) Venezuela. He began his musical studies in 1992 at the Fundación Coral Niños Cantores de Mérida, his hometown, where he participated first as a singer and later, in 1994, as a cuatro player. It is there where his interest in the guitar and the cuatro started, executing both instruments as a self-taught musician. With this group, he would participate in tours all over the country as well as an international tour that included Germany, Italy, and France. He undertook general music studies in the music school at the Universidad de los Andes, Mérida in 1996.

In 1997, he became a member of the Estudiantina de la Universidad de los Andes with which he participated in many national tours and two international tours: Colombia 1998 and France 1999. He then took part in the recording of his first album El Malmandao.

He has shared the stage with very acclaimed musicians like Cecilia Todd, Gualberto Ibarreto, Serenata Guayanesa, Gustavo Dudamel, Oscar D’ León, Carlos Vives, Guaco, Rafael “Pollo” Brito, Marta Gómez, Aquiles Báez, Cheo Hurtado, and Ilan Chester, along with the Symphony Orchestra of Mérida, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Municipal de Caracas, Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, Carabobo Symphony, National Flute Orchestra, and Symphony Orchestra of Utah.

Since 2001, he has lived in Caracas where he joined the chamber music group, Multifonía, where he had the opportunity to take a deeper approach to the Venezuelan and universal chamber music repertoire from all times, allowing him to actively participate as a composer and and music arranger. He is a founder member of the Venezuelan music ensemble Los Sinvergüenzas. His work with Los Sinvergüenzas has already been included in four recording productions: Bichoneando (2001); Desde Otro Lugar (2007); Sinvergüenzuransas (2012); and Raíces (2013), winning a Pepsi Music Award in 2013 for Sinvergüenzuransas as the Best Traditional Instrumental Album. Additionally, he has participated in several tours, including Spain (2002 and 2006) and Colombia (2011) with great success. In 2011 and 2013, Los Sinvergüenzas performed as soloists with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela two concerts with their own compositions (Caracas, Venezuela).

In 2010 he won the second prize at the Composition Competition José Fernandez Rojas in Spain, with his work “Suite Latinoamericana” for Plectrum Orchestra.

Hector belongs to the C4 Trio along with Jorge Glem, Edward Ramirez, and Rodner Padilla. In 2006 they released their first album, C4 Trío, produced by one of the best Venezuelan traditional musicians, Aquiles Báez. This first album included a collaboration with Aquiles Báez himself and other great exponents of folk music in Venezuela like Serenata Guayanesa, Rafael “Pollo” Brito, Adolfo Herrera, and others. In a very short period, their first album obtained a Golden Disc. In 2005, the C4 Trío gained tremendous popularity as they performed in many important venues in Venezuela and abroad: the Venezuelan Sounds Festival (USA), Salisbury International Arts Festival (England), the Bolivar Hall in London, Berklee College of Music (USA), EXIB Música Évora 2016 (Portugal), Glatt & Verkehrt Festival (Austria), WOMEX World Music Expo 2016 (Spain), and music festivals in Uruguay, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Canada. In 2009, the C4 Trío saw the release of their album Entre Manos. In 2011, the C4 Trío won an award at the 43rd “Torneo Internacional del Joropo" - the international contest for the folk music style Joropo that is traditionally played with a cuatro instrument. Their outstanding career is also recognized by the award “Premio Municipal de las Artes Aquiles Nazoa," a very important local award in the arts which is given in the city of Caracas, Venezuela. In 2012, they released their 3rd album Gualberto + C4 in collaboration with the acclaimed folk singer Gualberto Ibarreto. Later in 2013, they were recognized with three Pepsi Music Awards as Traditional Vocal Artist, Best Traditional Vocal Album, and Best Traditional Song. They were also nominated for the Latin Grammy awards for Best Folk Album.

They continued to amaze, impress and delight their audiences around the world and in 2014, and, after much hard work, they released the album De repente together with Rafael “Pollo” Brito. The ensemble and their album obtained a massive seven Pepsi Music Awards, including: Artist of the Year, Best Album of the Year, Best Collaboration of the Year, Best Traditional Vocal Album, Best Venezuelan Root Vocal Music, Best Venezuelan Gaita Song (“El Tresillo”) and Best Venezuelan Vocal Song (“Yo sin ti no valgo nada”). The same year, the C4 Trio together with Rafael “Pollo” Brito performed at the 15th Latin GRAMMY Awards premiere in Las Vegas, and their recording production, De Repente, was awarded a Latin GRAMMY for Best Engineered Album. In 2015 the band celebrated their 10th year lifework with the release of the special DVD #Los10DeC4, a compilation with the all-time great Venezuelan musicians: Oscar D’ León, Guaco, Desorden Público, Servando Primera, Cheo Hurtado, and Francisco Pacheco, among others. Furthermore, Héctor has participated with the ensemble in many tours including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and South America, beside many intense activities in the most important stages of Venezuela.

Besides the C4 Trio, he is also a member of Pomarrosa ensemble, having participated in the recording of their album Aguacero (2008). As a musician on Eddy Marcano Cuarteto Acústico, he has participated in many tours and international festivals in USA, Puerto Rico, Canada, and Germany, including performances at Carnegie Hall and Festival Villa Musica. He also took part in the recording of Live at Music of The Americas CD (2010) and Entre Compai’s DVD (2012).