Even in crisis, Venezuela a factory for classical maestros
BOGOTA — Even in the throes of crisis, Venezuela keeps churning out one export prized the world over: classical music maestros.
The latest addition to the country’s growing cadre of top-flight musical talent is Rafael Payare, who was named musical director of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra this week.
Payare, 37, has conducted at the world’s most prestigious concert halls and currently presides over the Ulster Orchestra in Northern Ireland. But he said his appointment to the helm of the San Diego Symphony was a huge surprise, coming just a month after he made his guest-conducting debut with the century-old ensemble.
“We only spent a week together but things immediately clicked and I could tell this is an orchestra that wants to expand both artistically and inside the community,” Payare said in a phone interview Wednesday from his home in Berlin.