Conductor | Composer

Darwin Aquino

3

Season 2023-24

Conductor

  • Conductor, New Works Collective Opera Theater of St. Louis
  • Guest Conductor, Interlochen Center for the Arts
  • Music Director, St. Louis Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Guest Conductor, St. Louis Ballet (Giselle)
  • Conductor-in-Residence, Washington University
  • Music Director, Gateway Festival Orchestra
  • Guest Conductor, Chamber Music Society

Composer

  • Guest Composer, San Francisco Civic Symphony (“Lunga Pandemia” for orchestra)
  • Commissioned Composer, Opera Theater of St. Louis / Opera on the Go (“Treemonisha” S. Joplin / Abridged)
  • Guest Composer, Latin American Music Festival / Venezuela (“Aee Mamá Si Ee” for solo percussion)
  • Commissioned Composer, University of Michigan / Percussion studio (“Aee Mamá Si Ee” for solo percussion)

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

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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