“In Orlando Cela’s able hands and imagination, a flute becomes a world orchestra,” says the Oregon ArtsWatch about Orlando’s lively performances that open new worlds of experience. Known for his compelling renditions, using imaginative programming, Orlando has premiered over 200 works, both as a flutist and as a conductor, to rave reviews from the media from the Boston Globe to the  Oregon ArtsWatch. In concert, Mr. Cela regularly offers short lively introductions to selected works, providing  audiences with entry points into unfamiliar works, so that listeners can easily connect the music with other life experience. As a flutist, Mr. Cela has performed at the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian (Washington DC), the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston), and at the Center for New Music and Technologies at UC Berkeley. His credits abroad include concerts at the Zentrum Danziger (Berlin), the Espace des Femmes (Paris), and at the Musikverein (Vienna). As a collaborative artist, Mr. Cela has concertized with flutist Paula Robison, tabla player Samir Chatterjee, harpsichordist John Gibbons, and with shen (mouth organ) virtuoso Hu Jianbing. He recently became a finalist in the American Prize in the professional instrumentalist division. He recently released his third solo CD, “Shadow Etchings” with rave reviews from Grammophone, Naxos Music, and Avant Music News.

As a conductor, he serves as the Music Director of the Arlington Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Lowell Chamber Orchestra, which he also founded. For nine years, he was the music director of the North Carolina Governor’s School; he has also guest conducted the Manchester Symphony Orchestra, the London Classical Soloists, the Marquette Symphony Orchestra, Dinosaur Annex, Sound Icon, and others. He created the Ningbo Symphony Orchestra during his year as visiting professor at Ningbo University, in China. Orlando has received the American Prize for conducting youth and community orchestras, the Vytautas Marijosius Prize for orchestral programming, and the Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for excellence in the performance of American music. His interpretation of Beethoven’s Symphonies 7 and 8 with the London Classical Soloists earned him a second prize in their competition. 

A dedicated music educator, Orlando is known for his dynamic workshops and lecture demonstrations. Popular and effective as a guest lecturer and clinician, he has presented sessions at Tulane University, UC Berkeley, and Brandeis University, as well as at the Central Conservatory of Music in China, the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart (Germany), and the Charlotte New Music Festival (NC). Mr. Cela has also lectured on general performance practice issues at flute festivals in Ithaca and Syracuse, and at in China at Dulwich College (Beijing) and Shanghai Normal University. He currently is assistant professor at Berklee College of Music, where he teaches conducting, and full professor at Middlesex Community College, where he teaches a variety of music courses and is the coordinator of the MCC Music Outreach Program. Orlando has two masters degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied flute performance and conducting with Paula Robison and Tamara Brooks, respectively. He is also a 2024 fellow in the Boston’s Arts and Business Council Creative Entrepreneur Fellowship.