beltaine fire rites.

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PROGRAM NOTE.

Named for the festival my Scottish ancestors observed, Beltaine marked the beginning of summer and was centered between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. Massive bonfires were built, yellow flowers were set in doorways and on windows, and holy wells were visited. This piece speaks to those rituals.

commissioner biography.

Praised for her "attention to orchestral colors" (OperaWire) and ability to create "lightning changes in tempo, meter, and effect" (Boston Musical Intelligencer), Lina Gonzalez-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 the recipient of the 2021 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the Third Prize and ECHO Special Award (European Concert Hall Orchestra Association) of La Maestra Competition, and the  2020 Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award.  

 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, Oxford 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’s Degree in Conducting with Charles Peltz,  a Graduate Diploma in Choral Conducting from New England Conservatory with Erica Washburn, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Orchestral Conducting from Boston University. Her principal mentors include Marin Alsop, Bernard Haitink, Bramwell Tovey and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

More about Lina Gonzalez-Grenados