Luis Toro Araya wins conducting competition
Luis Toro Araya from Chile won both the Opera Prize and the Audience Prize as one of six finalists at the International Conducting Competition ICCR in Rotterdam. He is studying in Zurich in the MA Specialized Music Performance - Orchestra Conducting with Johannes Schläfli.
Born in 1995 in San Vicente de Tagua Tagua (Chile), Luis Toro Araya studied violin at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Chile and at the Modern School of Music with Alberto Dourthé Castrillón. From 2014 to 2017 he was a member of the National Symphony Orchestra of Chile. In 2015, he began his conducting studies with conductors such as Jorge Rotter, Leonidrin, Garrett Keast and Helmuth Reichel Silva, with whom he regularly works as an assistant on various projects in Chile and Europe.
He was a finalist for the Herbert von Karajan Young Conductors Award 2021, where he conducted the Camerata Salzburg at the 100th anniversary of the Salzburg Festival. He has also just been appointed assistant conductor of the Spanish National Orchestra for the 2022/23 season.
The International Conducting Competition Rotterdam (ICCR) is organized by the International Conducting Competition Rotterdam Foundation in close cooperation with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and De Doelen. In five rounds with different orchestras and themes, from classical to contemporary, the conductors demonstrate their skills.
