ADRIÁN VARELA
‘The orchestra whisperer'
Anonymous
Conductor
Conductor, composer and first violinist in the renown Philharmonia Orchestra of London, Adrián Varela draws on over two decades of global live, touring and recording experience at the top professional level to create performances with 'a captivating energy' (Le Mauricien).
Adrián conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra in a ground-breaking first tour of a major orchestra to Mauritius in 2024, and regularly conducts the London City Orchestra since 2023. In 2025 he made his Sinfonia Smith Square debut conducting Strauss, Debussy and Respighi, and assisted Ryan Bancroft.
Adrián is most at home in large-scale late-19th and early 20th century repertoire such as Mahler, Bruckner, Strauss, Stravinsky, Respighi, Ravel, Walton, etc. He has worked with Nicola Benedetti, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Maria Włoszczowska, Mark van de Wiel, Victor de la Rosa Lorente, Julian Rowlands, Felicity Buckland, Jolyon Loy, Benjamin Williamson, Diana Aubrey, and the Ayoub Sisters. In November 2026 he will conduct Mahler's Symphony no.2 'Resurrection' in Fairfield Halls, Croydon with Hannah Morley, Iuno Connolly, and the joined forces of Hesperos Choir & Elysian Singers, in the largest concert in LCO's history to date.
Adrián and Sheku Kanneh-Mason in rehearsal
His live recordings regularly receive YouTube copyright strikes from major record labels, whose AIs can't discern, across multiple passages, between Adrián's performances and their own major-artist recordings.
Adrián served as the Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Polish National Youth Orchestra POM LYO from 2015 to 2021, a post offered to him instantly, permanently on completing a first project with the organisation. With POM LYO he conducted yearly national and international tours of major symphonic repertoire across Poland and Germany, and annual live video radio broadcasts on National Polish Radio NOSPR. Many former students are now established young soloists, or are employed in prestigious orchestras worldwide.
He also co-founded and held the same positions from 2014 with the One Tree Hill Sinfonia, a semi-professional orchestra in London which grew a considerable local presence and following, and raised funds for local, national and international charities until the 2020 pandemic.
The seeds for Adrián's grounded, empathetic music-making informed by social and historical contexts were planted decades earlier, while hammering the Berlin Wall on New Year's Eve 1989 during a European tour of the Jeunesses Musicales World Youth Orchestra. Witnessing Baltic flags raised for the first time since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the pulling down of Lenin statues in these states two years later, further cemented his belief in music as a force for positive social change.
Known for his innovative programming, concert formatting, original audience engagement and audience development, Adrián has worked to make music more accessible. His achievements include receiving a first-ever Arts Council England National Lottery Grant for the pandemic-era film 'Songs of Isolation,' which empathetically connects audiences, performers and visual artists accross barriers, through the music of Handel.
Adrián studied engineering at university for 18 months before having an epiphany during an algebra lecture. He conducted acclaimed public runs of opera in his native Uruguay, including Mozart’s ‘Bastian und Bastienne’ and Purcell’s ‘Dido & Aeneas’, winning early praise from the national media: ‘Fantastic: everything seems right, and by design. The choir sounds splendid. The orchestra, effective, top-grade. Unmissable; a crown to end the season’ (La Mañana). He later trained at the Royal Academy of Music, London earning Postgraduate, Pedagogy and Master's degrees. His studies in the UK were declared 'of National Interest' by the government of Uruguay, and supported by UNESCO.
Adrián studied conducting with Montenegro, an erstwhile protégé of Celebidache, with whom he learned to combine the Romanian's philosophical method with the more technical approach of Ceccato. His first contact with conducting, aged 15, was with the late Lorin Maazel and G Villasurda at Interlochen, USA. Maazel would become his main reference over nearly two decades, simultaneously while as 1st violinist in the Philharmonia Orchestra, and privately as an unofficial mentor. Other renowned conductors who have generously given Adrián their time, advice, and encouragement over the years, are Salonen, Muti, Jarvi, Hrusa, Steffens, Dutoit, Bancroft, Macelaru and Rouvali.
Adrian Partington, Director of the BBC National Chorus of Wales, has described Adrián as ‘one of the most inspirational musicians I have ever worked with.’