NATCHITOCHES – The Natchitoches – Northwestern Symphony Orchestra will perform on Tuesday, April 25 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Tickets are $15.75 each and can be purchased online at https://nnssla.org/ticket-sales. NSU, Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts and BPCC@NSU students are admitted free with a current student I.D. A livestream will be available at capa.nsula.edu/livestream.
Dr. Doug Bakenhus is musical director and conductor of the Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony Orchestra. Sofiko Tchetchelashvili is the instructor.
The concert will feature pianists David Berrocal-Barrios and Mario Gómez Orellana who are winners of the annual NSU Concerto Competition. Berrocal-Barrios will be featured on “Piano Concerto in A Minor” by Edvard Grieg. Orellana will be featured on “Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor” by Frédéric Chopin.
The orchestra will also play “Rosamunde Overture” by Schubert and “Symphony No. 1 in B flat Major” (Spring) by Robert Schumann.
Berrocal-Barrios is a senior music performance major at Northwestern State. He was born and spent his childhood in Cartagena de India, Colombia, where he began playing piano at the age of 11. Maestro Fabio Gomez served as his piano professor in high school. Under his guidance, Berrocal-Barrios earned a scholarship to NSU where he is a student of Dr. Francis Yang.
During Berrocal-Barrios time at NSU, he has been a member of the Wind Symphony, the Wind Ensemble, the NSU Jazz Orchestra and the NSU Men’s Choir as well as collaborating with students in multiple recitals while competing against other artists in the Music Teachers National Association Young Artist Competition.
Orellana is from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, started his musical career at the age of 14. He was accepted into the “Escuela de Musica Victoriano Lopez” where he had the opportunity to perform often as a soloist and collaborative pianist. He played in masterclasses with piano teachers from all over the world and received many awards in competitions including as a finalist in the 2016 Concurso Nacional de Piano “Nelia Chavarria”. In 2017 he had the opportunity to play in masterclasses with Bruno Aprea and Ramiro Soriano in Leon, Spain. After high school he worked as a collaborative pianist playing throughout Honduras.
In the fall 2020, he started piano lessons with Yang. Orellana is part of the NSU Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Combos, The Forsyth Jazz Collective, The Daniel Scott Quartet, Men’s Chorus and Cane River Singers. In Fall 2021, he won the McCutcheon Honors Recital at NSU with the highest grade in the keyboards’ jury. He was awarded the Gold Medal in the collegiate division of the Seattle International Piano Competition’s 2021 Bach Festival and was winner of the 2022 Romantic Music Competition of the Charleston International Music Competition.
