Music Director and Conductor Maestro Héctor Guzmán and guest artist Mikhail Berestnev perform with the PSO in Mexico City in 2025.
(PLANO, TX; September 8, 2025) Plano Symphony Orchestra Music Director Maestro Héctor Guzmán and President/CEO Gregory Patterson announced today the Symphony’s first international tour. The PSO will give a performance at the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City on Tuesday, October 21, 2025, at 6 pm. The concert will feature guest pianist Mikhail Berestnev. The Orchestra will perform Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 and Greig’s Piano Concerto in A minor.
The orchestra will travel to Mexico City following a performance at the Robinson Fine Arts on Saturday, October 18, 2025, and return to the U.S. on Wednesday, October 22. As part of the engagement, Maestro Guzmán, along with a few musicians and guest artist Mr. Beretnev, will give a few master classes at the Conservatory. The orchestral conducting masterclass will include basic principles of analysis, orchestration, and technique, with emphasis on the conductor’s role as an accompanist to several solo instruments, adding a different and important aspect to the training of the full conductor.
Maestro Guzmán is a graduate of the National Conservatory of Music.
The tour is generously underwritten by Tammy and Charles Miller.
Founded in the mid-19th century, the National Conservatory of Music stands as one of Mexico’s most emblematic artistic institutions. Throughout its history, it has shaped the country’s musical landscape, becoming a bastion of music education and culture. This institution has not only trained some of Mexico’s greatest composers and performers but has also reflected the historical and social context that accompanied its development. The National Conservatory of Music has not only witnessed but also played a leading role in the cultural evolution of Mexico. Since its founding in 1866, it has trained generations of musicians who have brought Mexican art to the world.
About Héctor Guzmán:
Maestro Héctor Guzmán is Music Director of the Plano Symphony, Irving Symphony, San Angelo Symphony, Corpus Christi Symphony, and is Conductor Emeritus of the Jalisco Philharmonic in Mexico. Winner of national and international competitions, he is the recipient of the “Seven Conductors-One Baton” International Conducting competition, the “Mozart Medal,” Mexico’s highest musical honor, presented by the embassy of Austria and the Mozart Academy in Mexico City, as well as the 2012 For the Love of Art “Lifetime Achievement Award,” the 2012 “Man of the Year” award from New York-based Madison’s Who’s Who, and the 2014 Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity’s National Arts Associate Award. The government of Mexico named him “Distinguished Mexican Artist” in 2018 for his contributions to music worldwide. In 2022-2023, he was named “Artist in Residence” of the world-acclaimed Madrid Soloists Orchestra in Spain.
As a guest conductor, Maestro Guzmán has appeared with all of Mexico’s most prestigious orchestras, the San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Wheeling, and Phoenix symphonies, the Chicago Sinfonietta in the United States, the National Symphony of the Dominican Republic, the Collegium Orchestra of Prague in the Czech Republic, the Rszezow Philharmonic in Poland, the Japan Philharmonic, the Masan Philharmonic and the Gangsam Symphony in South Korea, Italy’s Amadeus Orchestra, Sinfonia Venetto, Orchestra Milano Classica, Bari Symphony, San Remo Symphony, Orchestra i Pomeriggi Musicali of Milan, the Vratsa Symphony in Bulgaria, and the Sinfónica de Murcia, Joven Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid, and the Excelentia Orchestra in Spain.
He made his orchestral operatic debut in 2005 with Rossini’s Barber of Seville, and his performance of the opera Frida in 2007 was considered the “best opera of the year” by the Mexican press. He has also appeared as soloist and recitalist in venues such as the Meyerson Symphony Hall in Dallas, the Spivey Hall Distinguished Artist Series in Atlanta, and the Olivet Nazarene University recital series and the cathedrals of Morelia, Guadalajara, and Chartres, among others. In September 2024, Maestro Guzmán was named resident organist of the National Auditorium in Mexico City, home of the largest pipe organ in Latin America, solidifying his place as one of the most sought-after musicians today.
About Mikhail Berestnev:
Pianist Mikhail Berestnev has been described as having “…flawless technique and constant inspiration…superb sonority…” (Belgian La Libre) and is “… an astonishingly gifted pianist…equally at home as a soloist and collaborative pianist” (TheaterJones, U.S.).
He has been featured as a soloist with the Sydney Symphony, Brazilian Symphony, Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, Fort Worth, San Angelo, Irving, Plano, and Corpus Christi Symphonies, among others.
Mikhail has performed as a soloist and collaborative pianist at the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory named after Tchaikovsky, Moscow’s International Music House, English Hall at the Saint-Petersburg Music House, National Concert Hall in Dublin, Flagey Theater in Brussels, Sydney Opera House, Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, and the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, Winspear Opera House, Moody Performance Hall, and Charles W. Eisemann Center for Performing Arts in Dallas.
He frequently performs with violinist Grace Kang Wollet and clarinetist Danny Goldman as a member of MAKE, a classical music ensemble based in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. He has also collaborated with the Dallas Opera, Avant Chamber Ballet, Texas Ballet Theater, Van Cliburn Foundation, and members of the Fort Worth and Dallas Symphony Orchestras. Mikhail was featured as a guest artist at the Piano Texas International Academy & Festival, Basically Beethoven Festival, and International Keyboard Odyssiad & Festival, among others.
He is a prize-winner of the Sydney International Piano Competition of Australia, Rio de Janeiro International Piano Competition (BNDES), Stanislav Neuhaus International Piano Competition, Gnessin Russian Academy of Music international piano competitions, and Washington International Piano Festival.
He graduated from the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music in Moscow, Texas Christian University College of Fine Arts in Fort Worth, and the Meadows School of Arts at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He studied piano with Irina Grebyonkina, Andrei Khitruk, Alexei Skavronski, Vladimir Tropp, Tamas Ungar, and Joaquin Achucarro.
In addition to his performance career, Mikhail is a guest artist and collaborative pianist at the “Musica Nova” chamber orchestra and advanced chamber ensemble at the School of Arts and Technology at the University of Texas at Dallas and with music director and renowned American composer Dr. Robert Xavier Rodriguez.
About the Plano Symphony Orchestra:
Founded in 1983, the Plano Symphony Orchestra (PSO) is widely acknowledged as one of the leading professional symphony orchestras in the region. Under the artistic and musical direction of Maestro Héctor Guzmán, the PSO produces eight subscription concerts annually as well as myriad music education and community outreach programs that serve over 40,000 children annually.
The PSO’s education vision to ensure that music is available to as many people as possible regardless of age, race, ethnicity, or socio-economic status. Of the 18,000 who participate in our School Concert Education Program, over 40% attend various Title I schools in Dallas or Collin counties. The Title I federal program provides funding and resources to help schools with a high concentration of students from low-to-moderate income families. Title I Schools typically do not have the funds to develop their own arts and music programs or are able to pay for outside groups, like the PSO, to offer quality music learning experiences. The PSO is so dedicated to ensuring no child is excluded from these experiences due to their socio-economic circumstances.
The Plano Symphony is a non-profit performing arts organization dedicated to providing the citizens of North Texas with rich and varied programming of orchestral music and to educating the youth and adults of our community about the joy of classical and popular music through live performance.
The Plano Symphony Orchestra is supported, in part, by the City of Plano, Tammy and Charles Miller, The Andrea-Mennen Family Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, Communities Foundation of Texas, Rea Charitable Trust, Atmos Energy, AWARE Fund of The Dallas Foundation, The PSO Guild, The PSO Virtuoso Society, The PSO Corporate Council, City of McKinney Arts Commission, Frisco Arts Foundation, H-E-B | Central Market, Retirement Planners of America, The Dallas Morning News, Signs By Tomorrow, SoloShoe Communications, PISD, Bartlett & West, the Plano Rotary Club, Plano Mayor Summer Internship Program, Fireside Capital, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano, Veritex Community Bank, Frost Bank, Baylor Scott & White, Sandy Nachman, Wanda and Cliff Parker, Dianne and Marion Brockette, Nancy Freeman, Carol and William Tempest, and hundreds of individual donors, foundations, and corporations who make transformative gifts to the PSO.
About the National Conservatory of Music:
The National Conservatory of Music (Conservatorio Nacional de Música) was founded in Mexico City on July 1, 1866, by the priest, teacher, and choir conductor Agustín Caballero, with the support of the Mexican Philharmonic Society (Sociedad Filarmónica Mexicana) and the emperor Maximilian. The Hungarian composer Franz Liszt was among their honorary founders.
It is the oldest official school of music in Mexico City (the oldest conservatory in Mexico and in the Americas is the Conservatorio de las Rosas in Morelia, Michoacán, created in 1743), and it is the host institution of the oldest symphonic orchestra in the country (Orquesta Sinfónica del Conservatorio Nacional, founded in 1881).
Since March 18, 1949, its premises have been in Polanco, in an architectural complex designed and built by Mario Pani. Noted alumni from the Conservatory include, in addition to Maestro Guzmán, Placido Domingo, Eduardo Mata, Mario Lavista, Jorge Federico Osorio, and Carlos Prieto.
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