Wilfredo Deglans
Wilfredo Degláns began violin studies at the age of five in his native New York City. From 1963 to 1967 Mr. Degláns studied at the Conservatorio de Música in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 1967 at the invitation of Ivan Galamian, he went on to study at the world-renowned Juilliard School where he also studied with Dorothy DeLay. After receiving his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees, in 1971 and 1972 from Juilliard, he went on to pursue doctoral studies at the College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati Ohio with Walter Levin in violin, conducting with Louis Lane, and chamber music with Lynn Harrell and the LaSalle String Quartet. In 1974 he returned to Juilliard for a two-year fellowship, teaching chamber music under Samuel Rhodes, of the Juilliard String Quartet. Also, while at Juilliard, he became a founding member of the American String Quartet.
At age twenty, Mr. Degláns made his solo debut with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, and in 1981 he was the soloist at the opening concert of the twenty-fifth anniversary celebration of the Festival Casals.
Beginning in 1987, Mr. Degláns was called upon to collaborate with New York City based Música de Camara and has performed numerous solo and chamber music recitals. Of his work in a 1988 chamber recital at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Newsday critic Gwendolyn Haverstock said “His rendering of Beethoven’s well-known ‘Kreutzer’ sonata won zealous farewell cheers from the audience”. Degláns’ performance, particularly in the andante’s demanding variations, was charged with stylistic certainty and rhythmic vitality.” Then in 1989, Mr. Degláns made his New York City solo recital debut at Merkin Concert Hall. New York Times music critic Allan Kozinn wrote, “In a substantial sonata program of Mozart, Franck, and Beethoven, Mr. Degláns gave an assured, energetic performance.” In 1991 Mr. Degláns, along with members from Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra formed the Música de Camara String Quartet, which had its debut at Merkin Concert Hall in New York that same year to rave reviews, and in 1998 he made his Lincoln Center recital debut at Alice Tully Hall. The culmination of this collaboration occurred in 2002 when Mr. Degláns was named Artistic Director of Musica de Camara.
Mr. Degláns who has an affinity for teaching held a post at the Eastman School of Music in addition to his summer teachings at Aspen. During those years at Eastman, some of his students went on to study at major schools such as North Carolina School of the Arts, Yale, Indiana, Curtis Institute of Music and Juilliard among others. In Aspen as well as in Rochester with the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, Hochstein Music School and at Roberts Wesleyan College, Mr. Degláns has on many occasions conducted master classes and full string sectionals all at the request of the respective music directors.
Wilfredo Degláns has been the Associate Concertmaster of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra since 1977 and has been the Acting Concertmaster since 2001 and was named Concertmaster of the Miami Symphony Orchestra in 2005. He has also been a member of the Aspen Music Festival since 1989 where he has been the principal second violinist of the Aspen Festival Orchestra teaching violin, chamber music, and orchestral repertoire for the violin respectively as well as conducting. In January 2002, the Democrat & Chronicle in Rochester, New York in reviewing a concert of the Sheherazade, wrote, “Concertmaster Wilfredo Degláns dispatched his extensive solos with grace, taste and dead-on intonation.” His most recent engagements have included performances with the RPO and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico. Of his performance with the Puerto Rico Symphony, El Nuevo Dia wrote; “Mr. Degláns brought with him impeccable intonation and integrity in his playing” and the Democrat & Chronicle wrote, “Degláns played with a powerful sound, a sweet tone and a commanding technique”.
Before joining the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in 1977, Mr. Degláns served as a first violinist with several major ensembles, including the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, on tour at the request of then Music Director, Dennis Russell Davies, the English Chamber Orchestra, on its Carnegie Hall tour with Daniel Barenboim, on the recommendation of Pinchas Zukerman, the Louisville Orchestra, and the Festival Casals Orchestra. In the fall of 1994 and again in 1997, Mr. Degláns was invited by David Zinman to join the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on their tour of Korea, Taiwan and Japan respectively. His affiliation with the Aspen Music Festival began in the early 1970s, when he served as principal second violinist of the Aspen Chamber Symphony, assistant principal second violinist of the Festival Orchestra, and assistant to Dorothy DeLay.
Mr. Degláns has performed extensively in the United States and Latin America as a chamber musician, recitalist, and soloist. He has also collaborated with, Young Uck Kim, Ida Kavafian, Lynn Harrell, Misha Dichter, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, David Finckel and Lawrence Dutton of the Emerson String Quartet, Samuel Magad, Daniel Benyamini, and Laszlo Varga and with his RPO colleagues at the Society for Chamber Music in Rochester. Other solo appearances have included engagements with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra – including the Bach Concerto for two violins, with Joseph Silverstein, in 1988 and again 1998 with Ilya Kaler. Other appearances include recitals in Buffalo, Cincinnati, Mexico City, San Juan, Santo Domingo and Washington D.C. Most recently, Mr. Degláns appearances have included engagements with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Puerto Rico, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Music Rochester and concertmaster for the Miami Symphony Orchestra in addition to solo recitals.
Last updated: May 8, 2015