Pacho Flores

The trumpeter Pacho Flores blends classical, jazz, and popular elements in his music and has issued multiple albums on Deutsche Grammophon. Born in 1981 in San Cristóbal, Venezuela, he received early encouragement from his father, Francisco Flores Díaz, a trumpeter and band director who remarked that his son possessed “good lips” and predicted he would follow the same path. After initial instruction from his father, Flores joined Venezuela’s El Sistema program. He trained at the Escuela de Música Miguel Ángel Espinel in San Cristóbal under Orlando Paredes and later at the Instituto Universitario de Estudios Musicales in Caracas. He continued his studies in Paris with Eric Aubier and captured several prominent trumpet prizes, among them the Maurice André Competition in 2006. His first Deutsche Grammophon release, the 2012 album Cantar, juxtaposed standard classical trumpet repertoire with works of Latin American provenance, a pattern that would recur on subsequent recordings. Flores has soloed with orchestras worldwide, including the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Japan, the Düsseldorf Symphony in Germany, and the Arctic Philharmonic in Norway, and has appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Salle Pleyel in Paris, and Opera City in Tokyo. As a chamber musician he established the Simón Bolívar Brass Quintet, which he has led on tours throughout Europe, Japan, the United States, and South America. He has also served as principal trumpet with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, the Saito Kinen Orchestra from Japan, and the Miami Symphony Orchestra. Additional Deutsche Grammophon projects include the 2022 album Estirpe, which features the Concerto Venezolano by jazz trumpeter Paquito D’Rivera; that composition received the Latin Grammy Award for Best Classical Composition in 2023. Flores has given the premieres of pieces by Roger Boutry, Efraín Oscher, Sergio Bernal, Giancarlo Castro, and Santiago Báez. He serves as founding director of Venezuela’s Latin-American Trumpet Academy.