BIO
MARIA VALENCIA
ABOUT
Maria Valencia was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador in a middle-class neighborhood, the youngest daughter of a middle school teacher and a labor lawyer.
One of her sisters played the violin, so she wanted to play an instrument too, and after giving percussion a try, she discovered the trumpet.
Initially not taking music very seriously (she was studying languages) her life changed forever when one day, while practicing at her oldest sister’s place in Quito, someone knocked at the door. It was the neighbor from the top floor, but he didn’t come to complain.
It turned out he was the founder and conductor of the FOSJE, Ecuador‘s youth orchestra inspired by Venezuela‘s El Sistema.
He invited her to join the orchestra rehearsals that very week, and there is where everything started...
MY ROOTS
Maria Valencia is a trumpet player who grew up in the renowned musical education program El Sistema in Venezuela. Born in Ecuador, she began her musical studies in her hometown of Guayaquil.
She then moved to Quito, the capital, where she joined the National Youth Symphony Orchestra. Through a cultural exchange program, she continued her studies in Caracas under Gaudy Sanchez Moreno, principal trumpet of the worldrenowned Simón Bolívar Orchestra.
There, she became a member of several of El Sistema’s ensembles, including the Simón Bolívar Symphonic Band.
She also worked as a trumpet teacher in various El Sistema centers in San Juan de los Morros.
During her time at the Latin American Trumpet Academy in Caracas, she participated in numerous masterclasses with acclaimed musicians such as Max Sommerhalder, Francisco Flores, Fernando Ciancio, Luis Gonzalez, and the Canadian Brass.
MY STUDIES
In 2012, she moved to Europe, first to Amsterdam, where she studied at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Wim Van Hasselt and Giuliano Sommerhalder (principal trumpet of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and trumpet teacher at the Hochschule der Künste Bern, Switzerland).
The following year, she relocated to Milan and completed her graduate degree in trumpet at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory with Gianmario Bonino.
She also attended a year-long advanced trumpet course with Andrea Lucchi, principal trumpet of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia. In the same period, she participated in a masterclass with James Thompson at the Hamamatsu Wind Instrument Academy in Japan and performed at the Macau Band Fair with the Macau Wind Symphony.
She also took part in the Baroque Trumpet Gathering at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, led by Jean-François Madeuf.
MY EXPERIENCE
In 2014, she performed in Florida as a soloist, sharing the stage with international trumpet soloist Giuliano Sommerhalder in Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Trumpets.
In 2016, she has collaborated with the 1813 Orchestra of Como (AS.LI.CO.), with the Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra and the Pomeriggi Musicali Orchestra in Milan. With the latter, she toured Oman in a production of Ibn Battuta at the Royal Opera House of Muscat.
In 2017, she started teaching trumpet at the CPSM evening popular courses for adults at the “Giuseppe Verdi” Conservatory in Milan. At the same time, she became a member of the 1813 Orchestra’s Opera Domani project, which promotes Italian opera among thousands of elementary and middle school students across Italy. Through this initiative, she has performed in some of the country’s most prestigious theaters.
In 2018, she was appointed trumpet teacher at the Ricordi Music School in Milan, where she guides young children through their first experiences with the trumpet, preparing them to join the school’s main ensembles: the Under-13 Orchestra and the Jazz Wind Orchestra with her own trumpet method "Trombalandia - Trumpet Studio".
In July 2019, she made her debut at the International Trumpet Guild Conference in Miami (U.S.A.), the world’s most important trumpet conference.
She was later invited to give a masterclass at the Universidad de las Artes in her hometown of Guayaquil (Ecuador) and completed a second-level degree in baroque trumpet at the Conservatorio di Milano under Jonathan Pia.
In 2022, with the support of CPSM and the Milan Conservatory, she founded the Milano Brass Social Band, made up entirely of her students.
Maria was part of the team at the prestigious brass instrument manufacturer Cristian Bosc, serving as a Brand Developer. In this role, she has toured the U.S., presenting at the Trumpet Seminar at the University of Delaware’s Chosen Vale, the Eastman School of Music, and the Tanglewood Festival.
In 2023, she began her first collaboration with UNLIMITED, an educational initiative of the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, dedicated to teaching trumpet to children.
One of the highlights of 2024 was her participation in SEYO — the Sistema Europe Youth Orchestra — an ensemble that brings together young musicians from across Europe who are part of the El Sistema program. Founded 50 years ago by Maestro José Antonio Abreu in Venezuela and introduced to Italy by Claudio Abbado, this edition of SEYO took place in Pesaro, the Italian Capital of Culture 2024.
Following this experience, she began collaborating with SONG (El Sistema Lombardia) and the Superar Youth Orchestras in Lugano and Milan, supporting the trumpet sections. All of these initiatives are inspired by the El Sistema philosophy.
