Dr Carlos Alvarado
Conductor

Colombian born Carlos was appointed Musical Director of the Manly-Warringah Choir in April 2003.

Carlos started his musical career as a pianist under Maestro Jorge Zorro, one of the leading personalities in the Colombian Music Education System.

Having won a full scholarship from the Colombian Institute of Credit to study in Russia , Carlos obtained his Doctorate of Opera and Symphonic Conducting at the Tchaikovsky Conservatorium of Music of Moscow where he studied under Gennady Rozhdestvensky, who commended both his musicianship and his commitment to high-quality performance. He also undertook higher studies in choral conducting , piano theory and voice technique, and was awarded a Master of Fine Arts degree in choir conducting from the same Conservatorium.

In 1990-92, he was invited by Professor Hellmuth Rilling and the International Bach Academy of Stuttgart to take part as an Active Conductor in various courses and festivals with the Bach Collegium Orchestra and the Gachinnger Kantoire Choir in Stuttgart (Germany), Moscow and Santiago de Compostela (Spain).

Carlos returned to Colombia after finishing his academic studies. During this time he was guest conductor of the main Colombian orchestras, conducted several groups, choirs and ensembles and taught conducting in most of the important universities in Bogota, Colombia. At that time he took part in various international competitions in Brazil, Russia, Spain and Italy.

Since his arrival to Australia in 2002, Carlos has been actively developing his musical career. In 2004 Carlos was Co-founder of the Wollongong Symphony Orchestra, an orchestra that became a symbol of the cultural development in Wollongong and the Illawarra region (NSW) Australia.

Many Important Australian and International figures as James Morrison, Timothy Kain, Konstantin Shamray, John Chen, Tatiana Kolosova, Alexandra Loukianova, Deborah De Graaff, Emma Moore and many other soloists have been part of the programs conducted under Carlos Alvarado’s baton.

Carlos has founded a variety of choirs and music ensembles, the most recent being “Cantares”, a choral ensemble with members from the Shoalhaven, Illawarra and Wollongong areas.  Since 2020, Carlos has been Musical Director of the Illawarra Choral Society, and he has recently been appointed Conductor of the Berrima Singers in the Southern Highlands.

Carlos’ late wife, Alexandra Loukianova, was the Choir’s Concertmaster for thirteen years, additionally acting as soloist in many works.  She will be remembered particularly for stunning performances of Prokoviev’s Violin Concerto No 1 and Ralph Vaughan Williams’  The Lark Ascending.  Sadly, Alexandra passed away in December 2016, but her spirit lives on in the Choir’s increasingly high level of performance.