About Julian Rachlin, guest conductor

Julian Rachlin is Music Director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and Chief Conductor of the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra. He also served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and as Principal Artistic Partner of the Royal Northern Sinfonia.

With a career spanning more than thirty years, Rachlin has taken his multifaceted interests across the globe as a conductor, soloist, chamber musician, teacher and artistic director. His critically acclaimed recordings have been released by Deutsche Grammophon, Sony Classical and Warner Classics.With a career spanning more than thirty years, Rachlin has taken his multifaceted interests across the globe as a conductor, soloist, chamber musician, teacher and artistic director. His critically acclaimed recordings have been released by Deutsche Grammophon, Sony Classical and Warner Classics.

Rachlin is a much sought-after symphonic guest conductor worldwide. Highlights of recent seasons include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. As a violinist, he has shared the stage with the world’s most prestigious orchestras and conductors. Recent highlights include appearances with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and Klaus Mäkelä, Philharmonia Orchestra with Santtu-Matias Rouvali, National Symphony Orchestra and Gianandrea Noseda, Munich Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra with Zubin Metha, St.Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra with Yuri Termirkanov, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, RAI National Symphony Orchestra with Andres Orozco-Estrada, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orcheste Symphonique de Montréal and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra with Manfred Honeck.

About Santiago Cañón-Valencia, cello

Colombian cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia is a prolific soloist, composer, commissioner, recording artist, painter and photographer described as “technically flawless… totally under the skin of the composers’ idioms” (The Strad). A 2022 BBC New Generation Artist, Cañón-Valencia was born in Bogotá in 1995 and made his orchestral debut as a soloist when he was six years old with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá, blossoming into an accomplished musician praised as “an artist from whom sound and texture flow with ease and authenticity” (The Whole Note) and “one of the most promising young cellists” (Forbes Colombia).

Among his many accolades, Cañón-Valencia was Silver Medalist and “Audience Favorite” at the 2019 XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition; recipient of the 2018 Starker Foundation Award; Third Prize honoree at the 2017 Queen Elisabeth International Competition; First Prize winner at the Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition, Beijing International Music Competition, Gisborne International Music Competition, and Lennox International Young Artists Competition; and a major prize-winner of the Sphinx, Casals, Johansen, Cassadó, and Adam Competitions.

Cañón-Valencia’s international solo career has taken him around the world to perform with such orchestras as the Mariinsky Orchestra with Valery Gergiev, Frankfurt Radio Orchestra with Christoph Eschenbach, Brussels Philharmonic with Stephane Deneve, SWR Symphonieorchester with Andris Poga, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra with Nikolai Alexeev, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony with Muhai Tang and Moscow Soloists Chamber Orchestra with Yuri Bashmet, as well as all of the major orchestras in his native Colombia.

Upcoming highlights include performances throughout Europe, including his debut at London’s Wigmore Hall and a recital at St. George’s Bristol with pianist Naoko Sonoda; New Generation Artist Showcase concerts and broadcasts with the BBC Symphony Orchestra with conductor Pierre Bleuse in London and Ireland’s Ulster Orchestra led by Jac Van Steen; a solo recital at Italy’s Teatro Massimo; debuts with the Danish Chamber Orchestra at the Cartagena Festival and the Belgrade Philharmonic; and appearances with the Latvian National Orchestra, Spain’s RTVE Orchestra at Teatro Monumental, and Serbia’s Belgrade Philharmonic.