ADRIÁN VARELA
‘The orchestra whisperer'
Anonymous
Conductor
Adrián brings over two decades of global touring & recording experience with the world's greatest conductors, soloists and composers as member of the Philharmonia Orchestra, London, to his conducting. The seeds for his 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.
Adrián is a regular Guest Conductor of the London City Orchestra, whom he has conducted since 2023. In 2025 he made his Sinfonia Smith Square debut conducting Strauss, Debussy and Respighi, and assisted Ryan Bancroft.
In 2024 Adrián conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra on a groundbreaking first tour of a major international symphony orchestra to Mauritius, uniting the Orchestra with the nation's two choirs. He also conducted the Benedetti Sessions in Perth, collaborating with Nicola Benedetti, the Ayoub sisters, the Benedetti Foundation team, and hundreds of children of all ages across several performances.​​​
Adrián served as the Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Polish National Youth Orchestra POM LYO from 2015 to 2021, conducting several national and international tours of major symphonic repertoire across Poland and Germany, along with annual live video and radio broadcasts on National Polish Radio NOSPR. He also co-founded and held the same positions with the One Tree Hill Sinfonia, a semi-professional orchestra in London.
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Known for his innovative programming 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 connects audiences, performers and visual artists through the music of Handel.
​Adrián and Sheku Kanneh-Mason in rehearsal
Adrián studied engineering at university for 18 months before having an epiphany in the middle of 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 scientific 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, and Rouvali.
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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.’
