Distinguished Speakers in Classical Music Series
Angel Gil-Ordonez
Thursday, November 20, 2025, 6:30 pm
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
$30 Members - $40 Non-Members
“The Orchestra Conductor of the XXI Century and the Orchestra of the future”
What is the function of the conductor?
How has this function evolved until our day?
Are orchestras adapting to the audiences of the XXIst century?
Music Director Angel Gil-Ordóñez will discuss these matters and show video clips of great conductors of the past in rehearsal and performance.
Angel Gil-Ordóñez is Music Director of DC’s PostClassical Ensemble, Principal Guest Conductor of New York’s Perspectives Ensemble, and Music Director of the Georgetown University Orchestra. He also serves as lead advisor for Trinitate Philharmonia, a program in León, Mexico modeled on Venezuela’s El Sistema. Mr. Gil-Ordóñez is also a regular guest conductor at the Bowdoin International Music Festival in Maine, and at the Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington (IN). He has appeared as guest conductor with the American Composers Orchestra, Opera Colorado, Pacific Symphony, Hartford Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the Orchestra of St. Luke's. The former Associate Conductor of Spain’s National Symphony Orchestra, Gil-Ordóñez received the Royal Order of Queen Isabella, the country’s highest civilian decoration, for his devotion to sharing Spanish culture with the world. He has recorded nine albums for Naxos, including PostClassical Ensemble’s three DVDs featuring classic 1930s films with newly recorded soundtracks by Aaron Copland, Silvestre Revueltas, and Virgil Thomson.
6:30 p.m. - Beer/Wine Open Bar
7:00 p.m. - Distinguished Speaker Angel Gil-Ordonez
7:45 p.m. - Reception with Mr. Gil-Ordonez
Discounted parking (free for members with membership card) at 2001 Pennsylvania Ave. NW at the corner of I Street and 20th Street (Colonial Garage).
Special Performance the Evening Prior:
On Wednesday, November 19, 2025 at 7:30pm, Angel Gil-Ordóñez will be conducting “THE PALE BLUE DOT: A MUSICAL VOYAGE INSPIRED BY NATURE” at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater.
The program will include:
- Claude Debussy: La mer (arranged for 15 players by Joolz Gale)
- Howard Shore: Excerpts from The Lord of the Rings
- Virgil Thomson: Music for the New Deal documentaries, The River and The Plow That Broke the Plains
- Edvard Grieg: Morning Mood from Peer Gynt
- Léo Delibes: Flower Duet ("Sous le dôme épais")from Lakmé
- Joel Friedman: Musical surprise to be announced at the performance
- Post-Concert Discussion will follow.
Tickets are available here.
