Conductor Lina González-Granados Makes Her SFCM Orchestra Debut

Colombian conductor Lina González-Granados leads the SFCM Orchestra in a program of works by Joaquín Rodrigo, Mendelssohn, and Beethoven, in two concerts-Friday, January 31, at SFCM's Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall in San Francisco, and Sunday, February 2, at the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts in Richmond. At both performances, the maestra will give introductory remarks in both English and Spanish.

The program opens with Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, featuring SFCM alumnus Alec Holcomb '19, winner of the SFCM 2019 Guitar Concerto Competition, first place in the BorGuitar Festival in Italy (2016), and winner of the 2017 Guitar Foundation of America International Competition. Ms. González-Granados then leads the orchestra in two works inspired by nature: Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture, named for the archipelago off the coast of Scotland; and Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, Pastoral, which the composer described as "more an expression of feeling than painting" and which was inspired by his walks in the countryside.

Praised for her "attention to orchestral colors" (OperaWire) and the ability to create "lightning changes in tempo, meter, and effect" (Boston Musical Intelligencer), Lina González-Granados has firmly established herself locally and abroad as a talented conductor of opera, classical, and contemporary music. In November, González-Granados won the Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprenticeship at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Also in the fall, she began new appointments as Conducting Fellow of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Seattle Symphony. Ms. González-Granados is also the 2017-19 Taki Concordia Fellow, a position created by Maestro Marin Alsop to foster the entrepreneurship and talent of female conductors. She's a staunch proponent of the music of Latin American composers, work that earned her recognition as one of the "Latino 30 Under 30" by El Mundo in 2016. In 2014, Ms. González-Granados founded the Unitas Ensemble, a Boston-based chamber orchestra specializing in Latin American music. Her work with the Unitas Ensemble has yielded 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 Award-winning string quartet, Cuarteto Latinoamericano. Click here for her complete bio.

RODRIGO: Concierto de Aranjuez

with Alec Holcomb '19, guitar (winner of the Guitar Concerto Competition)

MENDELSSOHN: Hebrides Overture

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 6

Friday, January 31, 2020, 7:30 PM
SFCM's Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall | 50 Oak Street, San Francisco, CA
Tickets (SFCM): $20 General Admission / $15 Seniors and Conservatory Members

Sunday, February 2, 2020, 2:00 PM

East Bay Center for the Performing Arts | 339 11th Street, Richmond CA
Free, reservations recommended