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The Chilean conductor and double-bass player, Christian Lorca Ortega, was always drawn to music, he started his early steps on music in the Maipú’s Youth Orchestra (CODEDUC). From 1998-2000 he passed trough different instruments such as Clarinet and Classical Guitar. It was there that he had his first glimpse on conducting, being taught by de main conductor there. At 17 years old, he decided to take his love in music more professionally and started studying double-bass at Universidad de Chile’s conservatory. He obtained there his Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Musical Interpretation (March 2008-September 2013) studying with the teacher Alejandra Santa-Cruz; and his Master of Music degree in in Interpretation - Orchestra Conducting (October 2017-June 2020), being a student of Maestro Nicolas Rauss, principal conductor of the Classical Orchestra of the University of Santiago de Chile. First he took a Seminar in Youth Orchestra Conducting with Maestro Eduardo Browne, a Julliard School Alumni.
Christian Lorca has attended numerous seminars and master-classes in conducting both in Chile and abroad. Among his teachers are: Eduardo Browne (Chile), Lior Shambadal (Berlin - Berlin Sinfonietta), Ennio Nicotra and Andrew Constantine (USA - Fort Wayne Philharmonic), Leonid Grin (Chile - National Symphony Orchestra of Chile) and Rodolfo Fischer (Chile - National Youth Symphony Orchestra). With the latter he developed several seminars, including an internship in Basel-Switzerland at the Musik-Akademie, working intensively for 3 months. He has also received master-classes in musical interpretation on his main instrument - double-bass - from teachers such as: James Raport (Austria) and Mark Morton (USA, Texas Tech University) - both master-classes held at the University of Chile. He has been awarded a scholarship by the “Friends of the Municipal Theater” - Santiago - and was selected for the 1st International Festival of the Teatro del Lago, working intensively with the world-renowned Maestro Helmuth Rilling, in addition to working “basso continuo” with the first cellist of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, maestro Hans-Jakob Eschenburg within the same festival, presenting J.S. Bach's Johannes-Passion BWV 245.
As a double-bassist and conductor, Christian Lorca Ortega has been able to share both disciplines, achieving an amalgamation between the vision of an orchestral musician and that of an orchestra conductor. As part of his musical career, he has carried out different jobs such as: arranger, composer, librarian, copyist, propman, inspector, musician and assistant or principal conductor, which has given him a clear overview of how different musical groups work.
As a double bassist Christian Lorca has worked in different professional groups in our country – Symphony Orchestra of the University of Concepción, Camerata Universidad de los Andes, Philharmonic Orchestra of Chile and with the Seasonal Orchestra of the Municipal Theater of Las Condes; within his work as a double bassist he has carried out different musical projects within Santiago and regions; given this he has a vast orchestral and operatic repertoire.
As a conductor Christian Lorca has developed strong works as assistant conductor with Eduardo Browne and Rodolfo Fischer, in addition to participating as director of the internal band in the opera Rigoletto of the Municipal Theater of Santiago with maestro Maximiliano Valdez under the supervision of maestro Pedro-Pablo Prudencio; He has also worked with the “New World Symphony Orchestra” -Rancagua- and the “New World Choir” doing works within the traditional Chilean repertoire.
Currently Christian is the Chief Conductor of two regional youth orchestras in Chile - Arica and Parinacota Youth Orchestra-Foji (since March 2018), La Araucanía Youth Orchestra-Foji Chile-, which are made up of young musicians on scholarships from different locations in the region. He is also a guess conductor of “Orquesta Sinfónica Nuevo Mundo” ,”Internal Band of Municipal Theatre of Santiago of Chile “. |
