Alondra de la Parra

Conductor Alondra de la Parra has gained widespread attention for her spellbinding and vibrant performances, making her one of the most compelling conductors of her generation. She holds the distinction of being the first Mexican woman to conduct in New York City, and is an official Cultural Ambassador of Mexico. She has been heralded by Plácido Domingo as “an extraordinary conductor.” The French newspaper Le Monde states, “there is no doubt that, with Alondra de la Parra classical music has arrived into the Twenty-first Century.”

Frequently in demand as guest conductor, Alondra de la Parra has led some of the most prestigious orchestras of France, Germany, the USA, Japan, Brazil, Sweden, and Russia including the Orchestre de Paris, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Milan’s Cameristi della Scala. She has also toured across China with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Tolouse and will soon debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, and Tokyo’s NHK Symphony. In Latin America, De la Parra works frequently with the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra and Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra. She has also conducted the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Orquesta Filarmónica de Montevideo, and, in Mexico, the orchestras of Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Sinaloa, Xalapa, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, Estado de México, and the Mexican National Symphony.

Born in New York City in 1980, De la Parra moved to Mexico with her parents at age two and grew up playing piano and cello. She studied composition at the Centre of Research and Musical Studies (CIEM). She then attended the Manhattan School of Music as a Presser Scholarship recipient, obtaining her BM in piano performance with Jeffrey Cohen and her Masters in orchestra conducting with Kenneth Kiesler, both with highest honors. In 2004, De la Parra founded the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas (POA) with the mission to serve as a platform for showcasing young performers and composers of the Americas. She has also developed several education programs in New York public schools. In Oaxaca, Mexico, she worked with the Benito Juárez Youth Philharmonic Band. She developed and directed a 10-day clinic program, assisted by members of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, working with children of the Orquesta Renacimiento in the Mexican state of Guerrero. De la Parra is working to continue these programs all around Mexico. De la Parra has done multidisciplinary collaborations with various artists, including actors Geoffrey Rush and Robert Redford, filmmaker Michel Gondry, choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, and musicians such as Gloria Estefan, Natalia Lafourcade, and Gustavo Santaolalla, among others.

For more information, visit her website www.alondradelaparra.com