Conductor Jorge Luis Uzcátegui has won First Prize in the conducting category at the International Concert Competition, “Debut Hamburg 2017” .
Over 100 musicians from 36 countries participated in the competition, which awards prizes in violin, cello, piano, composition and conducting. The qualifying jury was composed of Michail Jurowski, Yair Kless, Natalia Prishepenko, Claudio Bohórquez, Vladimir Stoupel, Katja Skanavi, Søren Nils Esch Berg, and Krzysztof Meyer.
The final concert and award ceremony was held on February 23, 2017 in the famed Laeiszhalle Hamburg, where Uzcátegui conducted the KlassikPhilharmonie Hamburg Orchestra, performing Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5 (Sanghee Ji, violin competition winner) and Beethoven Symphony No. 7.
Jorge Luis Uzcátegui is currently assistant conductor of the Spokane (WA) Symphony Orchestra and founder/music director of Spokane’s youth and children’s orchestra project, “Music Innovates.”
He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Wisconsin and a Masters degree in piano and orchestral conducting from the University of South Carolina, and pursues a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in orchestral conducting at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
As a conductor, he has led performances in the United States, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Poland, Ukraine, Japan, Taiwan, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Venezuela. He has conducted musicians from distinguished orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Frankfurt Opera Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Sao Paulo Symphony, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and New York Philharmonic.
Uzcátegui has studied with conductors Kurt Masur, Neal Stulberg, Donald Neuen, Eckart Preu, Daisuke Soga, Osvaldo Ferreira, Manuel Galduf, Gianluigi Gelmetti, and Gustavo Dudamel.