Carnegie Hall

Carlos Miguel Prieto (Musical America’s 2019 Conductor of the Year) is known for his charismatic conducting and dynamic, expressive interpretations, which have led to major engagements and popular acclaim throughout North America, Europe, and beyond. In recent seasons, he has appeared with leading orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Beijing Symphony Orchestra, among many others.

Following a summer leading Carnegie Hall’s NYO2—which he returns to lead again in 2019—Mr. Prieto begins the 2018–2019 season conducting the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, makes his debut with the National Symphony Orchestra in November, and returns to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in December. In the spring of 2019, he makes return appearances with the Hallé Orchestra, hr-Sinfonieorchester, and Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa. This season marks Mr. Prieto’s 13th as music director of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 2006, he has been part of the cultural revitalization of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. On February 27, 2018, he led the orchestra in its Carnegie Hall debut in a concert celebrating the 80th birthday of composer Philip Glass.

A graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School, Mr. Prieto is an influential cultural leader and the leading Mexican conductor of his generation. Since 2007, he has been the music director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, the country’s most important orchestra. In 2008, he was appointed music director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería. Mr. Prieto is renowned for championing and commissioning new Latin American music and has conducted more than 100 world premieres of works by Mexican and American composers.

A passionate proponent of music education, Mr. Prieto served as principal conductor of The Orchestra of the Americas from its inception until 2011, when he was appointed music director. In early 2010, he conducted the ensemble alongside Valery Gergiev on the 40th anniversary of the World Economic Forum at Carnegie Hall.

In April 2018, Mr. Prieto was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Music by Loyola University New Orleans.

Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero’s visionary interpretations and unique compositional gifts have garnered critical acclaim and a devoted following on the world stage. A recipient of the prestigious 2018 Heidelberger Frühling Music Award, her recent and forthcoming highlights include debuts with the San Francisco Symphony (Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla), New World Symphony (Michael Tilson Thomas), Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo (Aziz Shokhakimov), Belgian National Orchestra (Hugh Wolff), and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (Carlos Miguel Prieto).

Celebrated for her exceptional musicality and ability to improvise, Ms. Montero has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras at such distinguished venues as Wigmore Hall, the Kennedy Center, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, and Berlin’s Philharmonie. She has recently made debut and return performances at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie and Edinburgh Festival, respectively, performing her own “Latin Concerto” with The Orchestra of the Americas. Additional highlights include a recital at London’s LSO St Luke’s, a repeat tour with the Scottish Ensemble—this time featuring her latest composition, Babel—and her long-awaited return to Warsaw for the International Music Festival “Chopin and his Europe,” marking 22 years since her win at the International Chopin Piano Competition.

Ms. Montero is an award-winning and bestselling recording artist. Her most recent album (released in the summer of 2015 on the Orchid Classics label) featured her first orchestral composition, Ex Patria—a tone poem designed to illustrate and protest Venezuela’s descent into lawlessness, corruption, and violence—and won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Classical Album.

A committed advocate for human rights, Ms. Montero was named an honorary consul by Amnesty International in 2015 and recognized for outstanding work in the field of human rights by the Human Rights Foundation. She was invited to participate in the 2013 Women of the World Festival at London’s Southbank Centre, and has spoken and performed twice at the World Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. A graduate and fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London, she has also been awarded the Rockefeller Award (2012) for her contribution to the arts.

Gabriela Montero by Shelley Mosman