National Youth Symphony Orchestra Conductor Will Study His Master’s Degree at the University of Florida

National Youth Symphony Orchestra Conductor Will Study His Master’s Degree at the University of Florida
Santo Domingo, August 22 2013

The Chief Conductor of the National Youth Symphony Orchestra, Darwin Aquino, will study a Master’s degree in orchestral conducting at Florida International University, where renowned music creator Gzregorz Nowak will be his teacher.
While feeling grateful for such cultural opportunity, Aquino highlighted the effort demonstrated by the Ministry of Culture and the center of higher education in support of Dominican talent.

“It is the desire of this administration that our young national talents have the opportunity to project themselves at the international level, while also bringing awareness to the country, thereby continuing to serve and enrich Dominican art,” Minister José Antonio Rodríguez pointed out.

Aquino, who conducts the orchestra since 2004, regularly comes back to the country to continue his work while conducting his studies.

The renowned musician said that he feels pleased after having worked alongside distinguished Polish teacher Gzregorz Polish Nowak, that he will now have the privilege of being his disciple.

He recognized the support received from his family, the executive members of the National Youth Symphony Orchestra, the orchestral groups, the work team, and the entire nation’s cultural field.

Dominican Director Darwin Aquino, also a composer and master violinist, is the winner of several international awards: the Hildegar Behrens Young Artist Award, from the United States and the Musici Mojanesi, from Italy. He has received three awards for his orchestral and chamber compositions. Moreover, because of his intense career, he has been an invited guest conductor at the Philarmonisches Orchester Mainz, the Orchestra at the Alfredo de Saint Malo Festival where he conducted American virtuoso violinist Rachel Barton Pine, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica.

He has also been invited as guest conductor and composer of orchestras and festivals in Germany, at Harvard University, in Panama, Virginia, Spain, Venezuela, Miami, Colombia, and was appointed as composer in residence of the Dominican National Symphony Orchestra, the highest distinction given for the first time by the Ministry of Culture.
Maestro Nowark Gzregorz is a prominent orchestra conductor who is currently the Deputy Director of the Royal Philharmonic of London. He has received numerous international awards, including the Ernest Ansermet Conducting Competition and the Grand Prix Patek Phillipe.