León Burke III returns to conduct OSCA’s fifth concert of the 2026 season

León Burke III will return to the podium of the Asunción City Symphony Orchestra on Thursday for its fifth official concert of the 2026 season. The performance begins at 8 p.m. at the Ignacio A. Pane Municipal Theater, with free admission.

The U.S. conductor will lead a program centered on Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto. Paraguayan pianist Nicole Kennedy will perform as soloist. Kennedy lives in Detmold, Germany, where she continues her musical training.

The evening will also feature the overture to Leonard Bernstein’s comic operetta “Candide” and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, known as the “Fate” Symphony.

Burke holds a music degree from Oberlin Conservatory and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Kansas. He has conducted the Aspen Music Festival and the Shenandoah Valley Music Festival. His relationship with Paraguay and its musicians began in 1989 through a cultural exchange organized by Comité Paraguay-Kansas, and he later served as a Fulbright scholar in Paraguay.

He has conducted the OSCA several times, as well as the Asunción Municipal Chamber Orchestra and other ensembles created by conductor Luis Szarán, including the Sonidos del Mundo Orchestra.