CARMEN BORREGALES
Affiliate Artist in Clarinet
Former Principal Clarinetist with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, Carmen Borregales is a Venezuelan clarinetist educated in the internationally renowned music program EL SISTEMA. Beginning her music studies in her hometown of Coro at the age of eight, she pursued further study at the Latin American Clarinet Academy in Caracas under prominent clarinetists Valdemar Rodríguez, Edgar Pronio, Jorge Montilla, Luis Rossi, Henry Crespo, and Gregory Parra.
Borregales has enriched her musical prowess through masterclasses with international maestros and soloists, including Alain Damiens, Thomas Friedli, Eddy Vanoosthuyse, Michel Arrignon, Walter Seyfarth, Alessandro Carbonare, Philippe Cuper, Charles Neidich, and others. In addition to the ICA 2004 Young Artists Competition (Maryland, USA), she has successfully qualified for competitions under the World Federation of International Music Competitions, including the Geneva International Music Competition 2007, the ARD Music Competition Munich 2008, and the Carl Nielsen International Music Competition 2009. As an orchestral player, she has worked with prestigious conductors, such as Gustavo Dudamel, Krzysztof Penderecki, Jesús López Cobos, Giancarlo Guerrero, Alondra de la Parra, Bruno Mantovani, Rafael Payare, and Diego Matheuz.
“An artist with an outstanding musical command,” Carmen Borregales has built an extraordinary career as an educator. In Venezuela, she taught for over a decade at the Simón Bolívar Conservatory of Music (2003–2016) and the Latin American Clarinet Academy (2006–2016). Carmen has taught and performed at international festivals and music schools in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Uruguay, Paraguay, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, and the United States. She has given numerous virtual presentations on clarinet performance, including in Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, and Panama.
Carmen Borregales studied with clarinet maker and soloist Luis Rossi to earn a Master’s Degree in clarinet performance from the Simón Bolívar University. In 2023, she received her DMA in music performance from the University of South Carolina under the guidance of Joseph Eller. In her Doctoral Dissertation, she introduced a comprehensive method for clarinet, “12 Etudes for Clarinet in Venezuelan Style,” based on music genres from Venezuela’s popular music of traditional roots. Carmen is also an artist representative for Buffet Crampon and Gonzalez Reeds, a Rovner ambassador, a teaching artist at the Houston Youth Symphony Chamber Music and Youth Orchestra Program, and the Lecturer in Clarinet at the University of the Incarnate Word (San Antonio).
Important collaborations in the United States include the Houston Symphony, Classical Music Institute, the Orchestra San Antonio, New Jersey Symphony, South Carolina Philharmonic, the Monarch Chamber Players, Vela Ensemble, Texas New Music Ensemble, and Nu Deco Ensemble.
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