BIOGRAPHY
Valentín is a Conductor, Composer and Violinist born in Medellín, Colombia.
He is currently the musical director of the Orchestral Program of Redondo Beach Music Box, the "Music House Singers" choir and the youth orchestra "Music House Conservatory Orchestra" in Los Angeles, United States.
In October 2024, he will be teaching conducting masterclasses in Universidad del Cauca, Popayán, Colombia, as a guest of the Chamber Music Festival. Later in the same month, we will be leading rehearsals and doing an academic recording with Iberacademy orchestra as part of their program with tenor Rolando Villazón.
In May 2024, he was a guest conductor in the concert "Tchaikovsky for La Casita de Nicolás" leading Camerata Jaibaná in Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto featuring soloist Mimi Jung, in Medellín, Colombia. During February 2024, he served as assistant to the conductor José Escandell in Giuseppe Verdi's Otello in Valencia, Spain, produced by LGAG artist management. He was one of the winning conductors of the “Young Talent Competition” of the Eafit Symphony Orchestra in November 2022, conducting in the orchestra's 20th Season concert. He conducted Copland's Appalachian Spring with musicians from the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela and Iberacademy in November 2022, in a concert part of a conducting workshop led by Maestro Alejandro Posada. Additionally, he conducted parts of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in an Iberacademy orchestra production with stage director Marco Gandini in November 2021. With Iberacademy, he has received constant guidance from his conducting mentor and program founder Alejandro Posada, and received advice from Roberto Gonzalez-Monjas. He has conducted Lars Erik Larsson's Concerto for Saxophone, as well as a wide variety of repertoire workshops. In November 2022, he traveled to Cochabamba, Bolivia, to assist conductor Leonard Elschenbroich, alongside the Bravura Musical Foundation sponsored by the Iberacademy Foundation.
In October 2024, violinist Mimi Jung and Pianist Juan Coronado will perform his "Danzas y Cantares" in a recital as part of Popayán Chamber Music Festival.
In February 2023, he received second prize in the musical composition category of the Caneres Music Competition Vienna for his "Fugue for String Quartet." His composition catalog includes works for orchestra such as his overture “Buen Viento y Buena Mar”, the miniature “Fernanda Played with Goldfish” or “Francesco e Povertà” for orchestra and baritone; his work for string orchestra "The Princess and the Henchman" based on his own story published by Autor (Spain in 2019), the work for choir and ensemble “La gran Aldea”, “Elektro-Variations” for String Quartet, Nocturne for Ensemble, and "Rhapsody for Solo Violin" which will be recorded in 2025 by Mimi Jung (violin).
Born in Medellín, Colombia, Valentín has pursued different artistic facets over time. He holds undergraduate and master's degrees in violin from Eafit University. In 2015, during his violin degree recital, he premiered his Sonata for Violin and Piano "In Memory of My Grandfather Jorge". As part of his master's studies, he conducted research and editing with interpretative annotations of the “Two Sonatas for Solo Violin” by Colombian composer Roberto Pineda Duque, whose article can be found in the institutional repository of Eafit University. In December 2020, he premiered his "Christmas Fantasy" for solo violin in El Retiro, Colombia. At Eafit University, he studied conducting with Alejandro Posada between 2020 and 2023. In 2014, he took a conducting seminar with Cecilia Espinosa. Additionally, he received lessons from Orhan Saliell (Turkey) and José Escandell (Spain). He is currently continuing his studies with Maestra Lina González-Granados (Los Angeles Opera).
Valentín completed undergraduate and postgraduate studies in violin at Eafit University with Professor Williams Naranjo. Between 2014 and 2022, he was a tutti violinist in the Eafit Symphony Orchestra, and between 2015 and 2018, he was a violinist in the Camerata Jaibaná; he also performed concerts as a soloist with this ensemble. He has also played recitals for solo violin, violin and piano, and chamber music. With the academic orchestra of Eafit University, he was concertmaster and soloist in 2014 and 2015 in concerts and academic activities. In 2014 and 2015, he won first prize in the soloist category in the students’ competition of Eafit University, and in 2013, he won the same prize in chamber music. He also participated in the contemporary music ensemble Periscopio in his hometown.