Andrés Orozco-Estrada

Conductor

Principal Conductor, Filarmónica Joven de Colombia
Principal Conductor, Orquesta Sinfónica Freixenet de la Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía
Chief Conductor, Gurzenich Orchestra (from 2025/26)

Managed in association with Nicholas Mathias Ltd.

Biography

Energy, elegance and spirit – that is what particularly distinguishes Andrés Orozco-Estrada as a musician. After a wonderful collaboration with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai in May 2022, Andrés Orozco-Estrada is appointed the new principal conductor of the Rai Orchestra from the 23/24 season.

From the 2025/26 season, he will take up the position of GMD of the city of Cologne and Gürzenich Kapellmeister. Orozco-Estrada attaches great importance to inspiring all the people of Cologne with music and for music, and to representing and presenting Cologne as a city of music internationally. Already in the coming season, he will be a guest at the Kölner Philharmonie with a special concert.

Debuts and re-invitations in the 23/24 season will take him to the Vienna Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Swedish Radio, the Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Radio Sinfonieorchester Berlin, among others. He will also return to the hr-Sinfonieorchester (Principal Conductor 2014-2021) and the Houston Symphony Orchestra (Music Director 2014-2022).

Read more

Recent News

Andrés Orozco-Estrada Makes His New York Philharmonic Debut

This week, Andrés Orozco-Estrada returns to the USA to make his New York Philharmonic debut, conducting the orchestra in four concerts at the David Geffen Hall on the 06-09 December. The programme features Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy, Hadyn's Cello...

Reviews

“Andrés Orozco-Estrada was truly remarkable right from the very beginning [the concert] proved him to be a master conductor with a subtle feel and musical sensitivity.”

Süddeutsche Zeitung

“His account of the Mahler had the mark both of an inquiring mind capable of revealing new perspectives on the music and of an interpreter with the full confidence to put them into action.”

Matthew Rye

Bachtrack

More Reviews

“Andrés Orozco-Estrada makes spectacular and an unusually strong impression is his Cleveland Orchestra debut.”

By Zachary Lewis, Bachtrack, May 2016

“Radio orchestras are said to be only partially versed in opera. The Frankfurt Radio Symphony decisively refuted this widely held perception with their concert performance of Richard Strauss’ gruesome opera Salome. Closing one’s eyes, the music was transformed into a gripping radio play. Thanks to the brilliantly attuned orchestra and their Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada, they mercilessly executed this psychological drama. (…) As Andrés Orozco-Estrada almost imperceptibly conducts, a flame burns within him, as does his appreciation for modernistic roughness. He delivers an eerily beautiful contrabassoon intermezzo, drives the percussion section hard, uncovers mysterious oriental flair in the Dance of the Seven Veils, but also beguiles with velvety strings in the style of the Rosenkavalier”

Offenbach-Post

“Radio orchestras are said to be only partially versed in opera. The Frankfurt Radio Symphony decisively refuted this widely held perception with their concert performance of Richard Strauss’ gruesome opera Salome. Closing one’s eyes, the music was transformed into a gripping radio play. Thanks to the brilliantly attuned orchestra and their Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada, they mercilessly executed this psychological drama. (…) As Andrés Orozco-Estrada almost imperceptibly conducts, a flame burns within him, as does his appreciation for modernistic roughness. He delivers an eerily beautiful contrabassoon intermezzo, drives the percussion section hard, uncovers mysterious oriental flair in the Dance of the Seven Veils, but also beguiles with velvety strings in the style of the Rosenkavalier”

Offenbach-Post

“Orozco-Estrada brought together flowing tempi with carefully polished details. The orchestra was on top form”

Frankfurter Neue Presse

“Orozco-Estrada brought together flowing tempi with carefully polished details. The orchestra was on top form”

Frankfurter Neue Presse

“The most salient components of any performance of Salome were especially convincing this time round. The Frankfurt Symphony musicians and their Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada stood their ground amid the power and grandeur of Salome’s orchestral diction.”

Frankfurter Rundschau

“The most salient components of any performance of Salome were especially convincing this time round. The Frankfurt Symphony musicians and their Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada stood their ground amid the power and grandeur of Salome’s orchestral diction.”

Frankfurter Rundschau

“A musical truffle hunt turned to triumph. (…) The orchestra was on top form, displaying precision and clarity in equal measure, with magnificent woodwind solos and finely etched lines in the string section. Packed with drama and finely balanced under Andrés Orozco-Estrada’s direction, the sound was a veritable bel canto truffle.”

Die Presse

“A musical truffle hunt turned to triumph. (…) The orchestra was on top form, displaying precision and clarity in equal measure, with magnificent woodwind solos and finely etched lines in the string section. Packed with drama and finely balanced under Andrés Orozco-Estrada’s direction, the sound was a veritable bel canto truffle.”

Die Presse

“The Vienna Philharmonic were once again on top form as they gave their final concert performance at this year’s Salzburg Festival in the Großes Festspielhaus. Under Andrés Orozco-Estrada’s baton they rolled out a finely woven red carpet for the handpicked ensemble of soloists with an overwhelming richness of colour, amazing plasticity and transparency.”

Der Standard

“The Vienna Philharmonic were once again on top form as they gave their final concert performance at this year’s Salzburg Festival in the Großes Festspielhaus. Under Andrés Orozco-Estrada’s baton they rolled out a finely woven red carpet for the handpicked ensemble of soloists with an overwhelming richness of colour, amazing plasticity and transparency.”

Der Standard

“Harnoncourt would surely have approved of the energy and resolve with which Orozco-Estrada plunged into this giant among symphonies. Lightning fast tempi, harsh contours and dramatically placed general pauses characterised the first two movements. The third he crafted into an eerie island of blissful calm, only to turn the Ode to Joy finale into a sincere call for hope by a world in dire straits. (…) The Colombian achieved a characterful interpretation”

Wiener Zeitung

“Harnoncourt would surely have approved of the energy and resolve with which Orozco-Estrada plunged into this giant among symphonies. Lightning fast tempi, harsh contours and dramatically placed general pauses characterised the first two movements. The third he crafted into an eerie island of blissful calm, only to turn the Ode to Joy finale into a sincere call for hope by a world in dire straits. (…) The Colombian achieved a characterful interpretation”

Wiener Zeitung

“From the very first bar the Concentus Musicus Wien under Andrés Orozco-Estrada adeptly fascinated and gripped their audience in the Großes Festspielhaus with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth.”

Kurier

“From the very first bar the Concentus Musicus Wien under Andrés Orozco-Estrada adeptly fascinated and gripped their audience in the Großes Festspielhaus with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth.”

Kurier

“Every fibre of Andrés Orozco-Estrada’s body seemed to pulse with energy. He drove everybody on with his big gestures, but always in control, for example in the Molto vivace, more hunting than haunting, as he picked out the ruthless pulsing rhythm with a dynamic shading never before heard from the timpani.”

Drehpunkt Kultur

“Every fibre of Andrés Orozco-Estrada’s body seemed to pulse with energy. He drove everybody on with his big gestures, but always in control, for example in the Molto vivace, more hunting than haunting, as he picked out the ruthless pulsing rhythm with a dynamic shading never before heard from the timpani.”

Drehpunkt Kultur

“His account of the Mahler had the mark both of an inquiring mind capable of revealing new perspectives on the music and of an interpreter with the full confidence to put them into action. “

Matthew Rye, Bachtrack

“In appointing Andrés Orozco-Estrada, the LPO has made an excellent choice.”

Douglas Cooksey, Classical Source

“The fluid and rhythmically lively rendition of Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony became the highlight of the evening”

Hessische Allgemeine

“With Orozco-Estrada as their conductor, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony have found a conductor who equally values achieving tonal finesse and unleashing the epic nature of the music. The result – a narrative force which captures the listener from the very first bars”

Darmstädter Echo

“Following the interval came Mahler’s First Symphony, which the Frankfurt Radio Symphony know inside out: the musicians matched Orozco-Estrada’s agility in the liveliness of the music. Many details were modelled out in exquisite tone. (…) Orozco-Estrada brought the Finale to a dramatic head. An explosive season opening”

Frankfurter Neue Presse

“In his interpretation of Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony, Andrés Orozco-Estrada placed great importance on a strict inner tension, but also on achieving a pleasing dynamic equilibrium in which even the expressive sequences never overshot their mark. Everything was balanced”

Maintal Tagesanzeiger,

“Orozco-Estrada could pass as a over-excited child with his lively conducting style, but the Columbian is anything but a lightweight. Most of all, he has very clear ideas, and the seasoned Mozarteum Orchestra followed his lead willingly”

Salzburger Nachrichten

“‘The first Mozart Matinée was the first of many triumphs.’ The Mozarteum Orchestra under the direction of Andrés Orozco-Estrada enthused audiences with Schubert’s Mass in A flat major and Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony. (…) Though frequently played, this performance of the Symphony No. 41 in C major was once again fascinating. From the first chord, Orozco-Estrada fashioned an electrifying performance steeped in tension, cherishing the detail in every thematic exposition while keenly differentiating each return of the theme – through every raging impetus, he remains reflective. (…) A first class performance from the Mozarteum Orchestra, as expected, and an explosive opening to the festival”

DrehPunktKultu

“And finally, Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. It was astonishing how little it resembled a monolith of archaic or futuristic barbarity stemming from the depths of bloody impulsivity, instead seemingly streaming forth over great distance from the heart of French haute culture. It is rare to hear so much Debussy and Ravel in this work: everything which did not succumb to the polyrhythmic diktat of the sacrificial rite – and that is almost fifty percent of the work – was energised into pure impressionism in the hands of the conductor, casting an aura in which the wild spirits danced all the more fervently. Never before had it been so evident how strong the roots, veins and ties are which bind this exceptional piece to the musical tradition of Central Europe.”

Frankfurter Rundschau

“Orozco-Estrada blends blazing musical impulse with the utmost alertness to every orchestral detail. The Columbian’s obsessive creative drive is complemented by his high level of technical ability in realising and communicating his vision.””

Kölner Stadtanzeiger

“You can see that Andrés Orozco-Estrada delights in making music, you can well and truly see it in his physicality as he delivers his musical guidance. His elegant rippling motions and vehement gripping gestures are fiery and inspiring. It must be extraordinarily motivating to perform under his baton. The audience too were appreciably enthralled by the 37-year-old’s charisma”

Kölnische Rundschau

“Brahms’s Second Symphony concluded the concert – and once again, the orchestra was well attuned to their maestro. This vision of Brahms exhibited a great variability in expressive form, throughout remaining fluid yet weighty, dense and full of different strands, adeptly exploiting the different time signatures to convey different characters.”

Frankfurter Rundschau

“Andrés Orozco-Estrada does not search for smouldering impulses within his Brahms cycle – instead the Columbian conductor lights up the music from the inside. But there are more distinctive features to his style. Even in the first movement of the First Symphony, a few passages stand out for their delicate qualities, while Orozco-Estrada proves to be searching for Brahms’s most heartfelt emotions in the second movement. Seldom does one hear such tenderness, such intimacy in this Andante. (…) Orozco-Estrada’s Brahms cycle therefore has character: it is personal and it is based on a very disciplined understanding of the four symphonies as a form of scaled-up chamber music.”

Pizzicato

“He is energetic and passionate, but also possesses genuine lyrical sensibilities and is exceptionally attuned to full orchestral textures”

Triblive

“All the more impressive is his grasp of Dvorák’s over-played Ninth, the New World Symphony, demonstrating just why the career of the 37-year-old Columbian is taking off at such speed. Completely without vanity, trite effects, sentimentality or fuss, he brings out a spirited freshness in the most famous of Dvorák’s symphonies. Time and time again he plucks out heretofore unheard elements from the abundant cosmos of the middle registers. A rush of pomp and beauty, of wistfulness and delight, brought into being with equal measures of soul and precision by the Gewandhausorchester, an orchestra completely at home with this type of music. An enthusiastic response all round”

Leipziger Volkszeitung

“Andrés Orozco-Estrada stood in front of the Vienna Philharmonic: a nimble, spirited débutant, crafting the music with confidence. (…) His approach to Mozart’s First was quite an experience. It was with unpretentious drive that Orozco-Estrada brought the modest symphony roaring into life, all the while avoiding overpowering the delicate piece with his creative will. Schubert’s First Symphony was exciting: orchestra and conductor palpably working together as they polished its gleaming multifaceted sound, palpably working together as they explored the deep structures of this work from Schubert’s youth”

Der Standard

“An aspiring young conductor with the musical world at his feet.”

Spiegel, 4 May 2013

“[Cherubini’s Overture in G] showed the Philharmonic’s sensitivity and Estrada’s energetic approach to virtuoso passages […], whilst consciously moulding the melodious elements throughout. […] Estrada sought an intonation [Schubert’s 4th Symphony] which was sensitive and also meditative in the second movement, flowing into a perfumed delight in the […] third movement.”

Standard, Nov 2012, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

“He has yet to conduct a ‘regular’ subscription concert with the Philharmonic: he is nevertheless worth his weight in gold as a stand-in. People are talking about Andrés Orozco-Estrada, that charismatic principal conductor of the Tonkünstler Orchestra. […] Orozco-Estrada proved to be an inspired master of communication, who all the musicians rightly applauded at the end: the maestro was more than just a good trustee in Cherubini’s […] Overture in G major. Orozco-Estrada also triumphed at the podium with an immensely expressive orchestra in Schubert’s 4th Symphony. Rarely has the “Tragic” been so understandable in all its details. A cause for celebration for the stand-in.”

Kurier, Nov 2012, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

“Andrés Orozco-Estrada guides the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia to a performance in which the symphonic spirit and concertante effect are vividly thrown to the fore, drawing a full dialectic from the solo instrument and at the same time a soft and iridescent tone, equal, full-bodied and balanced throughout.”

L’Arena – Il giornale di Vicenza, Sep 2012

“Andrés Orozco-Estrada was truly remarkable right from the very beginning [the concert] proved him to be a master conductor with a subtle feel and musical sensitivity. “

Süddeutsche Zeitung, Apr 2012, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra