Ludwig Carrasco
Conductor
Ludwig Carrasco began his tenure as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico in January 2023. Previously, he held the same position with the Bellas Artes Chamber Orchestra (Mexico), the Queretaro Philharmonic Orchestra (Mexico), and the Sinfonietta Prometeo (United States). Throughout his career, he has distinguished himself for his interpretations of the major works of the repertoire, as well as for his commitment to diversity and inclusion in musical programming.
As a conductor and violinist, he has presented concerts in 31 countries in the Americas, Asia, and Europe, conducting such ensembles as the Orchestra del Palazzo Ricci, Ensemble Laboratorium, Gstaad Festival Orchestra, Heredia Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra, Xalapa Symphony Orchestra, UNAM Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Bellas Artes Theater Orchestra, among many others. He has performed at venues including the Goldener Saal of the Musikverein (Austria), Wiener Konzerthaus (Austria), Salzburger Festspielhaus (Austria), Tonhalle Zürich (Switzerland), Berliner Philharmonie (Germany), Gewandhaus Leipzig (Germany), Konzerthaus Berlin (Germany), KKL-Luzern (Switzerland), Rudolphinum (Czech Republic), Parco della Musica (Italy), Carnegie Hall (USA), Kennedy Center for the Arts (USA), Lincoln Center (USA), National Arts Center (Canada), Shizuoka Hall (Japan), Auditorio Nacional de Música (Spain), Sala Nezahualcóyotl (Mexico), Teatro Teresa Carreño (Venezuela), and Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico), as well as in the important international festivals of Salzburg, Lucerne, Davos, Ultraschall, Gstaad, Alicante, Granada, Santander, June in Buffalo, IMPULS, Bayreuth, Spoleto, Cervantino, and Tage für Neue Musik Zürich.
Equally at home in the symphonic and scenic repertoire (opera and ballet), as well as multidisciplinary projects, he has conducted productions of such diverse works as Le Grand Macabre (Ligeti), Dialogues des Carmélites (Poulenc), An Index of Metals (Romitelli), Pierrot Lunaire (Schoenberg), and Funny Girl (Styne). His operatic repertoire includes more than 30 works, with essential titles such as Don Giovanni (Mozart), Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart), La bohème (Puccini), Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky) and Rigoletto (Verdi), while exploring less frequent compositions such as The Turn of the Screw (Britten), La romanzesca e l'uomo nero (Donizetti), Das Tagebuch der Anne Frank (Frid), Rodelinda (Handel), The Old Maid and the Thief (Menotti), La cambiale di matrimonio (Rossini), Mavra (Stravinsky) and Bajazet (Vivaldi). He has also conducted the world premieres of the operas La creciente (Georgina Derbez), Riesgo (Rogelio Sosa), The King's Journey (Bobbie McKay), Luciérnaga (Gabriela Ortiz), and Annette (Sofía Cancino de Cuevas).
He is an active promoter of contemporary music, conducting the world premieres of more than 160 works and performing 100 national premieres. In this field, he has collaborated with outstanding composers such as Erik Ullman, Mario Lavista, Ignacio Baca Lobera, Manuel Martínez Burgos, Javier Torres Maldonado, Gabriela Ortiz, Ana Lara, Marcela Rodríguez, Andrea Portera and Da Jeong Choi.
He has appeared on radio and television programs in Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States, as well as having participated in recordings for the labels Amati, CC Michoacán, Cero Records, Clásicos Mexicanos, Columna Música, ECN, Forlane, Grammont, J-INC, K617, SF, Tañidos/SR, Tritó, UM, Urtext Digital Classics and Warner Music.
He was the winner of the 2014 Xalapa Symphony Orchestra Conductors Competition (Mexico) and the 2013 Markowitz Award for Orchestral Conductors (New York-Philadelphia), as well as being awarded by the Fondazione Dragoni (Italy, 2010) for his activities in orchestral conducting. He has received support from prestigious institutions such as the Fulbright Foundation, Academia Musicale Chigiana, Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, Fundación Carolina, and the Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes de México.
Ludwig Carrasco, born in Morelia (Mexico), began his music studies in his native country at the age of 5, continuing his education in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in music, majoring in violin and orchestral conducting, as well as postgraduate degrees in musicology and cultural management. He received his doctorate in orchestral conducting from Northwestern University under the tutelage of Victor Yampolsky and attended master classes and courses with Neeme Järvi, Leonid Grin, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Kenneth Kiesler, and Gustav Meier. In addition, he studied further and received guidance from renowned conductors that include Mariss Jansons, Pierre Boulez, Alberto Zedda, Michael Luig, Sandro Gorli, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, David Itkin, Mallory Thompson, Gianluigi Gelmetti, and Marcello Viotti.
