Italy's Orchestra RAI Welcomes Andrés Orozco-Estrada as Music Director

The Colombian conductor will step into the role in October 2023

Conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada was recently announced as the new Music Director for Orchestra RAI, an Italian radio symphony orchestra. Orozco-Estrada made his debut with the orchestra in May 2022, in a concert of works by Richard Strauss, and will return in a permanent capacity from October 2023.

Born in Medellín, Colombia, Orozco-Estrada began his musical life as a violinist and started to conduct aged 15. He studied with Uroš Lajovic at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Vienna, an institution where he now teaches.

Between 2014 and 2022, Orozco-Estrada was the Music Director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra and between 2020 and 2022, served as the Chief Conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

In the present season, Orozco-Estrada leads orchestras including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the NDR Elbphilharmonieorchester, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France, and the Israel Philharmonic.

"It is a great honor for me to be here today and assume the role of Principal of the National Symphony Orchestra of Rai: a wonderful orchestra, that I met for the first time exactly one year ago, in May of 2022," Orozco-Estrada said.

"The success of that concert sparked, both in me and in the orchestra, a desire to collaborate in a more permanent way, and here we are now announcing my first season as the new Principal. I'm happy because this orchestra has a great history, has worked with great musicians, and offers great opportunities for a conductor. For this I am very thankful."