Conductor | Composer

Darwin Aquino

3

Season 2022-23

Conductor

  • Conductor, Florida Grand Opera (Il Matrimonio Segreto – D. Cimarosa)
  • Conductor, New Works Collaborative Opera Theater of St. Louis
  • Guest Conductor, Interlochen Center for the Arts
  • Music Director, St. Louis Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Conductor-in-Residence, Washington University
  • Music Director, Gateway Festival Orchestra
  • Guest Conductor, Chamber Music Society & St. Louis Ballet
  • Cover Conductor Opera Theater of St. Louis (Così Fan Tutte, Treemonisha & Center Stage)

Composer

  • Guest Composer, Orquesta Sinfonia de Heredia in Costa Rica
  • Commissioned Composer, Chamber Project St. Louis
  • Commissioned Opera Translator, Florida Grand Opera
  • Guest Composer, Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico
  • Guest Composer, San Francisco Civic Symphony

About Darwin

Known for his charismatic energy and musical versatility as a conductor and composer, Darwin Aquino’s career has taken him to orchestra halls and opera theaters across Europe, United States and Latin America. His constant presence as a Dominican artist in multiples stages is seen as a bright light for diversity and inclusion in classical music…

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Reviews

“Darwin Aquino, a former FGO Assistant Conductor, led a lively, fast-paced reading of Cimarosa’s elegant work. Benedetta Orsi and Aquino’s Spanish libretto works remarkably well with Cimarosa’s bubbly score. Many Spanish-speaking members of the audience found the adaptation amusing and entertaining” - D. Cimarosa “Il Matrimonio Segreto

– Laurence Budmen, South Florida Classical Review

“Conductor Darwin Aquino had the orchestra sounding great from the first measures of the overture and generally maintained a good balance between stage and pit. He has a fine feel for the nuances of the bel canto style, and knows to breathe with the singers”.

– Sarah Bryan Miller, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Mainz, Germany
“These extraordinary concerts had an enormous reception, which has risen the expectations to continuously program this international repertoire with the Mainz Philharmonic Orchestra”

– Mainzer Kultur

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Gallery

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Media

Interview: STLPHIL premieres Jocelyn Hagen’s music

Interview: STLPHIL premieres Jocelyn Hagen’s music

May 10, 2023 |

Darwin Aquino, the Music Director of the The Saint Louis Philharmonic and Leanne Magnusen Latuda, Artistic & Executive Director of the Saint Louis Women’s Chorale, spoke with Kathy Lawton Brown about their joint concert on April 28 that features music of Benjamin Britten, Maurice Ravel, and two St. Louis premieres: “Seis Sones Sencillos” by Carlos Fariñas and Antonio María Romeu and “The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci” by Jocelyn Hagen…

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Darwin’s conducting debut with OTSL

Darwin’s conducting debut with OTSL

May 10, 2023 |

Last year, Opera Theatre of St. Louis started an experiment. The first fruits of that experiment can be seen March 16-18 at COCA’s Catherine B. Berges Theatre. The creative team also includes conductor Darwin Aquino and choreographer Kirven Douthit-Boyd…

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Article about opera premiere and Darwin’s musical life (In Spanish)

Article about opera premiere and Darwin’s musical life (In Spanish)

Nov 4, 2022 |

El estreno, en la Gran Opera de Miami, de «El Matrimonio Secreto» de Domenico Cimarosa, uno de los más prolíficos compositores del siglo dieciocho, que llegó a componer ochenta óperas y fue maestro del género «comedia bufa» o comedia cómica, muy popular durante aquella época por su acercamiento a temas populares, sus ágiles dúos y tríos, recitativos hablados y por su risueña trama, marca historia al ser una versión totalmente cantada en español.

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