Composition

Orlando Cela

Assistant Professor

Affiliated Departments

Composition

ocela@berklee.edu

617-747-6526

Orlando Cela's website

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Orlando Cela has premiered over 200 works, both as a flutist and as a conductor, to rave reviews from the media from the Boston Globe to the Oregon ArtsWatch. In concert, Cela regularly offers short, lively introductions to selected works, providing audiences with entry points into unfamiliar works so that listeners can easily connect the music with other life experiences.

Courses Taught (4)

Conducting 1

COND-211

Conducting 2

COND-212

Directed Study in Conducting

COND-498

History of Music in the European Tradition: Iconic Works

MHIS-202

Career Highlights

Music director of the Lowell Chamber Orchestra and Arlington Philharmonic Orchestra, and founder of the Lowell Chamber Orchestra
Instruments include classical flute, Chinese dizi (笛子), and Venezuelan cuatro
Leader of the orchestra of the Governor’s School of North Carolina and the Zephyr Flute Quartet
Member of Music at Eden's Edge and Juventas New Music Ensemble
Performances with Salvatore Sciarrino, Paula Robison, Samir Chatterjee, John Gibbons, and Hu Jianbing
Performance include Rewin by Anna Clyne (North Carolina premiere), Flying Banner by Liza Lim (American premiere), Estampas Mexicanas by José Elizondo (world premiere), World Enough by Alwynne Pritchard (American premiere), and The Old Harp by Maxwell Dulaney (world premiere), among others
Recordings include Project Extended (FlyNote Productions, 2013), New Lullaby (Six String Sounds, 2010), The Complete Boismortier Concerti, op. 15 (2010), World Winds, (Willow Flute Ensemble, 2009) , and Aflame in Flight (Centaur Records, 2005), among others
Guest lecturer at the Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing, China); Tulane University (New Orleans, Louisiana); University of California, Berkeley; Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart (Germany); and DePauw University (Greencastle, Indiana)
Recipient of Barlow Endowment LDS Commission in conjunction with Peter McMurray (2008)
Classes with Glenn Michael Egner, Anne Reynolds, and Paula Robison

Awards

Producer, Best Original Series, Arlington Community Media, Inc. (2018)
Third place in the American Prize, Conducting, Community Orchestras Division (2018)
Recipient of second prize, London Classical Soloists Conducting Competition (2017)
Recipient of second place in the American Prize, Ernst Bacon Memorial Award in Excellence of Performance of American Music, Youth Division (2016)
Recipient of the American Prize, Orchestra Conducting, Youth Division (2016)
Recipient of the American Prize, Orchestral Programming, Maestro Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award, Youth Orchestra Division (2016)

Education

M.M., New England Conservatory, conducting
M.M., New England Conservatory, flute performance
B.M., DePauw University

In Their Own Words

"I want my students to be able to teach themselves: My style is the one where no straight answers are given. Students are encouraged to discuss, try, and decide on what is usually the best solution to a problem, and most importantly, they are taught to support their findings with concrete arguments."

"Compared to Berklee, no other school has such a diversity of students from so many countries, backgrounds, talents, interests, and instruments that they play. This is truly a microcosmos of our world, and wonderful things happen when these students collaborate."

"As a conductor, I lead people to do their best for the better of the ensemble. I encourage my players to have their own voice, either playing or collaborating ideas during rehearsals and planning. I wish for my students to understand that, in any musical collaboration, they should bring the best out of every person they work with. They must understand that not even a conductor has all the right answers, and that's okay."