Darwin Aquino

Conductor and composer Darwin Aquino was born in the Dominican Republic. After receiving degrees in music, he studied contemporary composition in the Conservatoire National du Strasbourg in France. In 2008, he was selected as composer in residence of the National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic. Aquino has received a number of prizes, such as the Musici Mojanesi prize, three national prizes in music from the Ministry of Culture of the Dominican Republic and two prizes in classical composition from the Santo Domingo Music Festival. His orchestral works have been performed by the Simon Bolivar Orchestra in Venezuela, the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Mainz y Saarländisches Staatsorchester in Germany, the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, the Orquesta del Festival Musical of Santo Domingo, Filarmónica Boca del Río in México, the Washington University Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional of El Salvador, the Dominican Filarmónica Música Sacra, and the Florida International University Symphony Orchestra. His chamber music has been premiered by such ensembles as New Music ISCM in Miami, Chamber Project St. Louis, the Festival Latinoamericano in Venezuela, the SMASH Salamanca in Spain, the Alfredo Saint Malo Festival in Panama, at Mannes College in New York and the International Forum of New Music in Mexico.
Aquino is the Music Director of the Gateway Festival Orchestra, Conductor-in-Residence at Washington University and Director of Orchestral Studies at UMSL.