Natalia Luis-Bassa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Natalia Luis-Bassa
Background information
Birth name Natalia Rosalía Luis Bassa
Born July 13, 1966 (1966-07-13) (age 45)
Venezuela Caracas, Distrito Capital, Venezuela
Genres Classical
Occupations Conductor
Instruments Oboe
Years active 1991-present
Associated acts Orquesta Sinfonica de Falcon
Hallam Sinfonia
Website http://www.luis-bassa.com

Natalia Luis-Bassa (born July 13, 1966, Caracas, Venezuela) is a conductor who lives and works in England, where she is Musical Director of the Haffner Orchestra in Lancaster and the Hallam Sinfonia in Sheffield.

Contents

[edit] Background

Luis-Bassa conducting the Haffner Orchestra in 2007

Since winning the second prize at the Maazel-Vilar Conductor's Competition in New York, she has worked both in the United Kingdom and abroad with orchestras including the Orquesta Sinfónica Venezuela, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Paragon Ensemble, Bombay Chamber Orchestra, Filamónica Nacional, and Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and the National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain where she is now a conducting tutor.

She read music at the University Institute of Musical Studies (IUDEM), an institution that belongs to the Venezuelan musical system, being the first person to obtain a degree in Orchestral Conducting in her native country. She was appointed music director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Falcón and after some years she completed her studies at the Royal College of Music in London, holding the RCM Junior Fellowship in Opera Conducting for two years.

Natalia holds a Master's Degree from The University of Huddersfield where she is a part-time lecturer and has been appointed Elgar Ambassador.[1]

In August 2008 Luis-Bassa appeared in the reality TV talent show-themed television series, Maestro on BBC Two, as a mentor to David Soul.[2]

The Royal College of Music has appointed Natalia as a Professor of Conducting alongside Maestro Peter Stark.[3]

[edit] Personal life

Her father, Germinal, was born in Barcelona, Spain. As a child, during the Spanish Civil War, he had to escape from Barcelona and went to France, the United States, Argentina and finally Venezuela where he married Lillian, a Venezuelan whose parents were Spanish. Both of them are opera and zarzuela lovers. She grew up in a house full of music with her two sisters. Luis-Bassa now lives in West Yorkshire, the "Last of the Summer Wine" county.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Elgar Prize". Elgar Society. 2008-02-09. http://www.elgar.org/1news.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-29. 
  2. ^ "Eight passionate amateurs bid to become BBC Two's Maestro" (Press release). BBC. 2008-05-23. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/05_may/23/maestro.shtml. Retrieved 2008-05-24. 
  3. ^ "Professor of Conducting". Royal College of Music. 2009. http://www.rcm.ac.uk/about/upbeat/Upbeat%20Autumn%202009.pdf. Retrieved 2011-10-18. 
  4. ^ Germinal Luis, We Came Alone, Fundación Españoles en el Mundo, 2008, p.199.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Roger Cann
Music Director, Haffner Orchestra
2004–Present
Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by
Richard Ellis
Music Director, Hallam Sinfonia
2007–Present
Succeeded by
Incumbent
Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export
Languages