Natalia Luis-Bassa

Natalia Luis-Bassa
Background information
Birth name	Natalia Rosalía Luis Bassa
Born	July 13, 1966 Caracas, Distrito Capital, Venezuela
Genres	Classical
Occupation(s)	Conductor
Instruments	Oboe
Years active	1991-present
Associated acts	Orquesta Sinfonica de Falcon Hallam Sinfonia Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra Haffner Orchestra
Website	http://www.natalialuisbassa.blogspot.com

Natalia Luis-Bassa (born July 13, 1966, Caracas, Venezuela) is a conductor who lives and works in England, where she is Musical Director of the Wellington College Symphony Orchestra in Berkshire and the Hallam Sinfonia in Sheffield.

Background

Since winning the second prize at the Maazel-Vilar Conductor's Competition^[1] in New York City, she has worked both in the United Kingdom and abroad with orchestras including the Orquesta Sinfónica Venezuela, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Paragon Ensemble, Bombay Chamber Orchestra, Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra, Haffner Orchestra, Filamónica Nacional, Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra, the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, Southbank Sinfonia and the National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain where she is now a conducting tutor.

She read music at the University Institute of Musical Studies (IUDEM), an institution that belongs to the Venezuelan musical system, being the first person to obtain a degree in Orchestral Conducting in her native country. She was appointed music director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Falcón and after some years she completed her studies at the Royal College of Music in London, holding the RCM Junior Fellowship in Opera Conducting for two years.

Natalia holds a master's degree from The University of Huddersfield where she is a part-time lecturer and has been appointed Elgar Ambassador.^[2]

In August 2008 Luis-Bassa appeared in the reality TV talent show-themed television series, Maestro on BBC Two, as a mentor to David Soul.^[3]

The Royal College of Music has appointed Natalia as a Professor of Conducting alongside Maestro Peter Stark.^[4]

Natalia also works with the National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain, conducting the London Regionals and runs the Conductor's Course. She also conducted the Main Orchestra playing Danzon No. 2 by Arturo Márquez in the Summer Concert of 2011, and again playing Sibelius Symphony 2 in 2014. She is renowned among the NCO for her flamboyant conducting.

Personal life

Her father, Germinal, was born in Barcelona, Spain. As a child, during the Spanish Civil War, he had to escape from Barcelona and went to France, the United States, Argentina and finally Venezuela where he married Lillian, a Venezuelan whose parents were Spanish. Both of them are opera and zarzuela lovers. She grew up in a house full of music with her two sisters Carolina and Gabriela. Luis-Bassa now lives in West Yorkshire, the "Last of the Summer Wine" county.^[5]

References

1. "Mission". Maazel/Vilar Conductors' Competition.
2. "Elgar Prize". Elgar Society. 2008-02-09. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
3. "Eight passionate amateurs bid to become BBC Two's Maestro" (Press release). BBC. 2008-05-23. Retrieved 2008-05-24.
4. "Professor of Conducting" (PDF). Royal College of Music. 2009. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
5. Germinal Luis, We Came Alone, Fundación Españoles en el Mundo, 2008, p.199.

External links

• Natalia Luis-Bassa's Blog
• Hallam Sinfonia, Sheffield
• Facebook FanPage
• National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain
• Haffner Orchestra, Lancaster
• BBC Mundo Interview (in Spanish)
• Elgar Society
• Fundacion Calcaño (in Spanish)
• Maazel-Vilar Conducting Competition