Biography
Colombian conductor and choral director Paola Ávila has emerged as one of the most outstanding Latin American conductors of her generation, recognized for her artistic leadership, musical excellence and commitment to educating the next generation of musicians.
She currently serves as Music Director of the Cartagena Symphony Orchestra and the Universidad de los Andes Symphony Orchestra. From 2022 to 2025, she was Music Director of the Women’s Philharmonic Orchestra, Colombia’s first professional all-female orchestra, where she led a pioneering artistic project promoting women’s leadership in symphonic music. Her career has developed across the Americas and Europe. In 2025 she became the first woman to conduct the Ibero-American Youth Orchestra (OJI) since the ensemble’s creation and made her debut with Turkey’s Limak Philharmonic Orchestra as guest conductor, invited by the Embassy of Colombia. She has also appeared as guest conductor with the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, the Cali Philharmonic Orchestra, the Valle del Cauca Symphonic Band, and has collaborated with the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Miami Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and the Peabody Conservatory Youth Orchestra, among others. (Originally trained as a violist, she earned her Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, where she studied under the renowned conductor Marin Alsop, whose mentorship profoundly shaped her artistic vision. She was also selected as a Conducting Fellow with the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Miami Symphony Orchestra, and served as Lead Conductor for OrchKids, the educational programme of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, experiences that strengthened both her artistic and educational leadership.
Alongside her conducting career, she is deeply committed to teaching as a faculty member at both the Universidad de los Andes and the Juan N. Corpas University Foundation, advocating for music as a catalyst for education, inclusion and social transformation.
At the XXI Cartagena Music Festival, Paola Ávila represents a new generation of Colombian conductors whose work combines artistic excellence, visionary leadership and a profound commitment to the future of symphonic music.