L.A. Chamber Orchestra Announces New Cohort of L.A. Orchestra Fellows

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) has announced four top-tier early-career musicians have been selected for its Los Angeles Orchestra Fellowship, a prestigious program sponsored by LACO in partnership with the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (ICYOLA) that engages members of historically underrepresented groups in western classical music ensembles. The 2023-2025 cohort of Fellows, including two wind players and two string players, are:

· Flutist Alejandro Lombo, from Miramar, Florida, who earned a Master’s degree from The Juilliard School and a Bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music;

· Oboist Eder Rivera, a Honduran-native who graduated with honors from Columbus State University’s Schwob School of Music and received a master's degree from the Colburn Conservatory;

· Columbian-American violist Nicolas Valencia, who holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of North Texas and is currently pursuing a Master's in Viola Performance at the University of Southern California;

· Double bassist Matthew Peralta, a New York-native who completed his undergraduate degree at Purchase College and earned a Master’s degree from the Yale School of Music.

Los Angeles Orchestra Fellowship, a rigorous two-year training program, offers a range of practical, in-the-field experience designed to increase the diversity of American orchestras, by providing the Fellows with critical professional development opportunities as well as work for hire, enabling them to perform in a professional setting alongside LACO’s leading professional musicians. Established in 2017, the LA Orchestra Fellowship was developed to address the fact that less than 5% of America's orchestra workforce is African American, Hispanic or Native American, according to a recent report on diversity issued by the League of American Orchestras.

“The Los Angeles Orchestra Fellowship is the key component of LACO’s educational mission to help foster diversity in the classical music industry,” says LACO Executive Director Ben Cadwallader. “Having quality real-world experience with a professional orchestra can make a critical difference in a musician’s career path. Alejandro Lombo, Matthew Peralta, Eder Rivera, and Nicolas Valencia are all top-notch musicians at the beginning of promising careers. We want to help ensure they have the tools needed to be successful in their endeavors.”

The Fellowship includes several weeks of work with LACO consisting of orchestral rehearsals and performances, chamber music coaching and concerts, a recital, mock auditions, and teaching artist opportunities through LACO’s Meet the Music initiatives and with ICYOLA.

Los Angeles Orchestra Fellowship also provides unprecedented support to prepare participants to win auditions in professional American orchestras, including financial support for participating musicians to take auditions and accept work with other orchestras.

The Fellows receive an annual minimum guarantee of $5,500 in compensation. For those residing outside of LA County, LACO also provides travel and housing for the weeks in which they are in residence with LACO.

Initial funding for the Los Angeles Orchestra Fellowship was generously provided in part by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and AFM Local 47. LACO assumed full financial responsibility for the program’s operating costs in fall 2023.

For information about LACO and the Los Angeles Orchestra Fellowship, please visit www.laco.org or call 213 221 3920.