Symphony organizers are balancing rehearsal time with media time to let the public know what’s in store starting Friday.
“It is good to be back at our headquarters,” said conductor Juan Carlos Lomónaco, referring to the orchestra’s return to the grand Teatro José Peón Contreras, which had been shuttered for renovations.
Speaking to Yucatán Expat Life on video, Lomónaco included a welcome to English-speaking audiences. Expats and snowbirds have been steady supporters of the Yucatán Symphony Orchestra:
{ Please read our previous story on the upcoming season and the guest conductors and musicians. }
After seven years leading the OSY, Lomónaco highlighted the evolution and growth that has taken place. Today, the Yucatán Symphony Orchestra is considered one of the finest in the country. When not in Mérida, the orchestra travels Mexico and has accompanied great operatic tenors Juan Diego Flórez and Placido Domingo among other illuminaries.
Born in 1969, Lomónaco has been Music Director and Conductor of the Yucatán Symphony Orchestra since 2009. Lomónaco graduated from the highly selective Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he studied with Otto-Werner Muller. He also studied with Charles Bruck at The Pierre Monteux School, Enrique Diemecke and Marc David.
Lomónaco has participated in diverse international forums and festivals, such as the Festival Lírico Internacional de San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain; the Contemporary Music Festival of Treviso, Italy; Cervantino International Festival and the Mexico City International Festival, just to name a few. As well, he has been juror in different violin competitions in Hungary, France and Turkey.
Active in music since 17, at the age of 23 he made his debut with the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, where he was assistant conductor for two years.
Lomónaco has been music director of the Carlos Chavez Symphony, IPN Symphony, National Conservatory Symphony, the Ollin Yoliztli Symphony in Mexico and The Mexico-Philadelphia Ensemble, in the United States.
In 1994, Lomónaco was assistant conductor at The Domaine Forget Academy of Music in Canada. He is founder and conductor of the chamber orchestra Ensamble Iberoamericano in Madrid.
In 2010, he was selected by Mexican Leaders magazine as one of the 300 most influential leaders in the country.
Lomónaco’s influence brings prestigious, world-class talent to the stage in Mérida. Pianist Alexei Volodin, today considered among the world’s best, and pianist Marian Sobula, who chairs the Chopin Piano Foundation in Krakow, are among the season’s guest musicians.
The Symphony’s 26th season, in the words of Lomónaco, will be “a universe of beautiful music.”
Tickets for the OSY’s 26th season, which runs Friday through Dec. 11, are on sale. Visit the Symphony website or the box office at the Teatro José Peón Contreras.
{ More on the 26th season and the guest conductors and musicians. }
