Carlos Miguel Prieto and the North Carolina Symphony at a November 2021 concert.
On Wednesday, the North Carolina Symphony announced the appointment of CARLOS MIGUEL PRIETO as its next music director, succeeding Grant Lewellyn, who stepped down in 2020. Prieto’s initial four-year term begins with the 2023-24 season, and he will serve as music director designate during the 2022-23 season. Prieto has been a regular guest conductor with the orchestra since 2011, and is currently the orchestra’s artistic advisor. A native of Mexico City, Prieto has served as the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra’s music director since 2006; his final season there will be in 2022-23. He is also music director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería, which performs a two-month summer series in Mexico City. Prieto was named Musical America’s 2019 Conductor of the Year; a graduate of Princeton and Harvard universities, he has conducted more than 100 world premieres of works by Mexican and American composers, and has championed music by Black and African American composers including Florence Price, Margaret Bonds and Courtney Bryan. The North Carolina Symphony performs at Meymandi Concert Hall in downtown Raleigh as well as venues in other North Carolina cities.
