JOSHUA DOS SANTOS
LATIN AMERICA
After his international debut at Carnegie Hall in New York in the framework of the "Voices from Latin America" Festival, as a participant in the "Mahler Project" with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela and selected for the "Dudamel Fellow" program with to the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and his commitments in South America, the United States and Europe, Joshua Dos Santos is emerging as one of the young Portuguese-Venezuelan conductors with the greatest international recognition and projection.
Disciple of master José Antonio Abreu, he is known for his versatility and experience on the podium. He trained within the System of Children and Youth Orchestras of Venezuela, debuting at the age of 15 with the opera Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni. He has been Musical Director of the Vargas State Youth Symphony Orchestra (2001-2002) and of the Carabobo Youth Symphony Orchestra (2002-2009) with which he carried out intense musical, social and managerial work.
He has collaborated closely with the teachers Charles Dutoit, Neeme Järvi, Pablo Heras-Casado and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, which he conducted on more than five occasions within the framework of the "Concerts for young people" held at the Walt Disney Hall in the city of Los Angeles. Likewise, he regularly works as Assistant Conductor of the renowned maestro Gustavo Dudamel together with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela on their international tours. During 2016 he served as Associate Director of said group.
His recent commitments include his debut with the Malaysian Philharmonic in Kuala Lumpur, a Latin American tour in countries such as Chile, Argentina, Venezuela and Uruguay, the Colombian National Symphony at the Teatro Colón in Bogotá, the Montalegre Music Festival Orchestra (Portugal ), Porto Alegre Symphony (Brazil), the UNAM Philharmonic Orchestra in Mexico City with two programs, one of which included the national premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki's Third Symphony; Likewise, he performed for the first time with the Young Symphony Orchestra of Barcelona and his debut at the Katara Opera House in Qatar with the Philippine Youth Orchestra.
The previous season he directed the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra within the framework of the "Présences" Festival, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and recently collaborated with his main mentor, Maestro Gustavo Dudamel, in the staging of the opera "La Bohème" by Giacomo Puccini at the Teatro Alla Scala in Milan with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela.
During 2013-2014 Dos Santos performed with the Simón Bolívar Orchestra in Los Angeles, with an important participation in the Tchaikovsky Festival. Then, he made his debut in Mexico with the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra with which he was immediately re-invited with the same Orchestra in October of the same year with which he conducted a spectacular version of Mussorgsky-Ravel's Pictures at an Exhibition, and in Chile at the head of the National Youth Symphony of that country. He returned to Uruguay with the Sodre Youth Symphony in a staging of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. He also made his first record production in conjunction with the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra and the Portuguese embassy in Venezuela, which includes works by Carlos Seixas, Joao Bomtempo and Aldemaro Romero, in order to promote and disseminate them in the region.
His first New York concerts included world premieres of Carnegie Hall-commissioned works by composers Danilo Pérez, Enrico Chapela, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and Esteban Benzecry; He has been the only Latin American artist to conduct the Łódż Philharmonic Orchestra within the framework of the "Lutosławski Centenary Week" held in Poland to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the renowned Polish composer Witold Lutosławski.
As an advocate for social development through music education and the arts, Dos Santos continually supports programs inspired by El Sistema around the world. This led him to become Music Director of the Philippine Youth Orchestra, a cornerstone of Ang Misyon Inc., an institution that supports and provides free music education to underprivileged and talented children in the Philippines.
Joshua Dos Santos was born in Caracas; From an early age he lived in the city of Valencia, Carabobo State. He studied at the Center for Musical Studies of the University of Carabobo "Gustavo Celis Sauné", at the Carabobo Conservatory of Music and the Sebastián Echeverría Lozano School of Music. He was a member of the National Children's and Youth Orchestra of Venezuela with which he participated in numerous international tours under the baton of teachers such as Giuseppe Sinopoli, Claudio Abbado and Simon Rattle. Dos Santos was named “Young personality of the year” by the newspaper El Carabobeño and recognized with the “Naguanagua City Honor Button” for his high citizen merits.
