Orlando Cela is committed to engaging audiences with lively performances that open new worlds of experience. The Venezuelan-born conductor has received the American Prize for conducting, and the Vytautas Marijosius Prize for orchestral programming. He also received second place in the Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for excellence in the performance of American music. He also won second place in the London Classical Soloists Conducting Competition for his performances of Beethoven’s Symphonies 7 and 8, in 2017. Guest appearances include performances with the London Classical Soloists (London, UK), Marquette Symphony Orchestra (MI), the Randolph College Chamber Orchestra and Chorus (VA), UMass-Dartmouth Choruses (MA), and others. He has been invited to conduct and lecture at Tête-à-Tête Opera Festival (UK), the Central Conservatory of Music and Shanghai Normal University (China). Being an advocate of new music, Mr. Cela regularly offers short lively introductions to selected works, providing audiences with entry points into unfamiliar works. He has conducted world premieres by Bernhard Lang, Renée Baker, and national and regional premieres by Kaija Saariaho, Armando Bayolo, Bongani Ndodana-Breen, Andy Akiho, Alwynne Pritchard, and many others. Orlando is the founder and Music Director of the Lowell Chamber Orchestra, serves as the Music Director of the Arlington Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the North Carolina Governor’s School. Besides teaching a number of music related courses at Middlesex Community College, he also teaches conducting at Berklee College of Music.