Spain, Portugal & Latin America
Chilean conductor Luis Toro Araya has served as Chief Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Concepción (Chile) since March 2025. Recent engagements include debuts with the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, and the Orchestre de Picardie. He maintains a close relationship with the Spanish National Orchestra, where he previously served as Assistant Conductor and has been recently re-invited.
In previous seasons, Luis also made debuts with the Dresdner Philharmonie, Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal, Orquesta Sinfónica de Radio Televisión Española, and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago, as well as returning to the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias. He was a Dudamel Fellow in the 2022/23 season, during which he made his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Other recent highlights include concerts with Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Staatsorchester Braunschweig, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Camerata Salzburg, Berner Symphonieorchester, hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestra of the 18th Century, Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, Filharmonie Hradec Králové and Olten Filarmoni of Izmir.
Luis has been awarded with the second prize at the German Conducting Award 2025. He was also a finalist at the 2021 Herbert von Karajan Young Conductors Competition Salzburg, as well as the 2022 International Conducting Competition Rotterdam, where he was awarded both the audience and opera prizes.
Born in 1995 in San Vicente de Tagua, Chile, Luis studied violin at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Chile and at the Modern School of Music with Alberto Dourthé Castrillón. He went on to perform with National Symphony Orchestra of Chile from 2014 until 2017.
In 2015 he began his orchestral conducting studies with conductors such as Jorge Rotter, Leonid Grin, Garrett Keast and Helmuth Reichel Silva. Luis relocated to Zurich to continue his studies at Zurich University of Arts with Prof. Johannes Schlaefli and University of Music Franz Liszt in Weimar with Prof. Nicolás Pasquet. In masterclasses Luis has worked conductors such as Bernard Haitink, Paavo Järvi, James Lowe and Larry Rachleff.
