Glass Marcano

Born in San Felipe, Venezuela, Glass Marcano began her musical studies at a very young age, as part of the remarkable National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras and Choirs—also known as El Sistema, founded by José Antonio Abreu. At the age of 8, she took violin lessons at the Conservatorio de Música Blanca Estrella de Méscoli and joined the Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil de San Felipe.

She pursued her musical training and was a member of various national orchestras until October 2012, at which time her natural gifts as a conductor led her to study conducting with Teresa Hernandez and subsequently with Alfredo Rugeles at the Universidad Experimental de las Artes, where she graduated in 2017. She continued taking part in conducting masterclasses with such renowned figures as François-Xavier Roth, Johannes Schläfli, Giancarlos Guerrero, Claire Gibault, Maxime Pascal, and Sabrié Bekirova. 

In 2018, Marcano was appointed Principal Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil Simón Bolívar, composed of members of El Sistema. In the following years, she conducted some of the most important youth orchestras of Latin America. A turning point occurred, however, in 2020 when she was selected among the 12 finalists to participate in the first edition of La Maestra Competition in Paris, where she won the Orchestra Award. Since then, she has conducted several orchestras, such as the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Tours, Orquestra Gulbenkian, Filarmónica de Bogotà, Orquesta Sinfónica de Cartagena, Paris Mozart Orchestra, Orchestre Le Balcon and Orchestre national de Lyon, as well as acting as Assistant Conductor to François-Xavier Roth and Kazushi Ōno. 

In the summer of 2022, Glass Marcano completed a tour with the Chineke! Junior Orchestra, during which her own profound values and the passion and enthusiasm of this formidable ensemble combined perfectly to yield outstanding performances at the opening concerts of the Lucerne Festival, Berlin Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and London Clore Ballroom. 

Recent and future engagements include her debut with the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, Brussels Philharmonic in connection with the Flagey Musiq3 Festival, Orchestra Filarmonica ‘Arturo Toscanini’ in Lerici (Italy), Wiener Concert-Verein in the Brahms Saal at the Vienna Musikverein, Filharmonia Zielonogórska (Poland), Orchestre Metropolitain de Montréal, and Pforzheim Symphony (Germany). 

Glass Marcano graduated in law in 2022 from the Universidad Central of Venezuela. She is currently pursuing studies in orchestral conducting at the Paris Conservatoire under Pierre Michel Durand, as she nears completion of her bachelor’s degree in orchestral conducting at the Universidad Nacional Experimental de las Artes of Venezuela.