Prof. Roselín Pabón – Director of the CMPR Symphony Orchestra
Emeritus Conductor, Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra and Musical Director of the Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra.
As a Guest Conductor he has performed in the United States, Spain, Italy, Central and South America and the Caribbean.
Last December he presented a television special of the play El Niño de Aguadilla celebrating the centenary of its composer Amaury Veray.
In August 2024, he conducted the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert of Puerto Rican music presented in Millennium Park. In July 2021, he recorded a concert of Puerto Rican music with the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra for their virtual concert series.
From 2010-2019 he served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Chamber Music Inc. organization in New York.
Among the honors he has received are an honorary doctorate in Arts from the Interamerican University, the Mangó de Oro from his hometown, Mayagüez, the Coquí de Oro, and the UNESCO Medal for his contribution to the dissemination of symphonic music in Puerto Rico. He is a member of the Puerto Rican Musicians Hall of Fame and is distinguished for being the first assistant director of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra.
Maestro Pabón has recorded several albums of Puerto Rican music, a video with the famous guitarist Ángel Romero and recently the Opereta Cofresí, by the illustrious Puerto Rican composer Rafael Hernández, which was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Some of his artistic commitments in 2024 include his performance as a guest conductor at the Unibac festival in Cartagena, Colombia. He recently conducted G. Donizetti's opera Elixir del Amor for Opera de Puerto Rico.
In April 2023, he conducted the premiere and recorded the work by Puerto Rican composer Hermelindo Ruiz Mestre dedicated to the fresco of San Telmo in the San José Church in Old San Juan.
Currently, in addition to being Musical Director of the Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra, Pabón serves as Director of the institution's new Master's program in Orchestral Conducting.
He graduated from the Free School of Music of Mayagüez (1963), the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland (1968) and the University of Indiana in Bloomington (1977).
In 2023, Maestro Pabón celebrated his fiftieth anniversary as Musical Director, having made his debut in 1973 directing the English operetta “The Mikado” by Gilbert and Sullivan at the old Silvia Rexach theatre in Puerta de Tierra.
He also celebrated his sixty-five years in music, 1958-2023.
Prof. William Rivera – Director of the CMPR Choir
Professor William Rivera Ortiz is a professor at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, where he serves as director of the Master's Program in Choral Studies and heads the Voice Department. He has taught graduate courses in choral literature, choral conducting seminars, and undergraduate courses in basic and choral conducting, choral education for teachers, solfège, vocal technique, and composition seminars, among others. He directs the Conservatory Choir and the Concert Choir, with which he has participated in choral festivals in Puerto Rico, the United States, and Italy.
Its choirs have participated in the seasons of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, the Casals Festival, the Opera Workshop of the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, Puerto Rico Opera, the Puerto Rican Zarzuela and Operetta Foundation, the Inter-American Festival of the Arts , the “Arturo Somohano” Philharmonic Orchestra of Puerto Rico, Culturarte of Puerto Rico and the Bayamón Symphony Orchestra.
During the years 1992 to 1995, he was director of the Puerto Rican Girls' School Choir and the Disciples of Christ Academy Choir (secondary level) Bayamón, with which he won first prize at the 1995 Musicfest held in Orlando, Florida, USA. In 1999, he founded the Ars Vocalis Choir with which he has performed at various choral festivals in Austria, Italy, the United States, the Czech Republic, Northern Ireland and Puerto Rico. In addition to his concerts and special activities, he carried out his national tour “Al son de mi voz” sponsored by the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture. In March 2008, Ars Vocalis won first prize in the mixed choir category at the 19th edition of the Concorso Internazionale di Canto Corale held in Verona, Italy. In 2003, he was director of the Choir of the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus and taught the choral conducting course for five years at said institution. Since 2004, he has directed the National Choir of Puerto Rico with which he has presented community concerts, Christmas concerts, in the Family Concert Series of the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music and in the Christmas Concerts of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra. In 2005, he participated in the International Choir Festival in Vienna, Austria and in 2012, a concert tour in Montreal and Quebec, Canada.
She graduated Magna cum Laude from the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music. She studied under Maestros Roselín Pabón, Ángel Mattos, and Carmen Acevedo. In 1987, she earned a Master of Music degree with a specialization in Choral Conducting from Temple University, where she studied with the distinguished choral director Alan Harler. In 1995, the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, awarded her a scholarship to pursue a Doctor of Musical Arts degree with a specialization in choral conducting and literature, and vocal pedagogy. There, she studied with professors Jo-Michael Scheibe and Donald Oglesby. In 1996, she represented the University of Miami, conducting the choral repertoire sessions at the American Choral Directors Association Regional Convention in Norfolk, Virginia. She directed the Chamber Choir and the Women's Choir, taught the undergraduate Choral Conducting course, prepared the choirs for the Opera Workshop, and coordinated the Holiday Dinners for the Choral Program. He was Assistant Director of the University Concert Choir and of the Collegium Musicum of the Miami Bach Society.
Professor Rivera has participated as a guest speaker in workshops, seminars, forums, and conventions in and outside of Puerto Rico. In 2012, he was invited to serve on the jury of the International Choral Singing Competition in Verona, Italy. In 1991, he was President of the Puerto Rico Choral Association. He has served as a judge in several choral competitions in Puerto Rico. Since 1989, he has been the Director of the Choir of the Third Christian Church “Disciples of Christ” in Sierra Linda, Bayamón, Puerto Rico. He is also a member of the International Federation for Choral Music, the Puerto Rico Choral Association, the American Choral Directors Association, and Chorus America. His biography has been published in “Who’s Who in Choral Music.”.
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