Working with the LPO and National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia: Eliana Echeverry on composition and innovation

On Sunday 27 July 2025, the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia presents Diez Lunas para una Espera: Arrullos Sinfónicos (‘Ten Moons for Waiting: Symphonic Twists’), under the direction of Alejandro Roca, together with soprano Betty Garces and Semblanzas Del Rio Guapi’s singing group Cantoras at the Teatro Mayor, Bogotá. The composer and producer of this project? Eliana Echeverry, composer and Trinity Laban composition alum. This is the first time ever that the orchestra will perform an entire programme by a female composer.

Having completed her Bachelor’s degree in composition at the National University of Colombia, Eliana moved to London in 2021 to complete her master’s degree at Trinity Laban. During the final year of her course, she started thinking about a project that would put opera into dialogue with jazz, European classical, and vocal music from the Pacific Coast of Colombia. It would blend very different ways to learn and perform music on the same stage. “I’ve been working on the project for three years,” says Eliana. “From the original idea to finding the right writer for it and pitching everything to different institutions. It’s a huge and quite expensive project that also poses a logistical challenge. It was bold to even think that it was possible. In Colombia, we have a fantastic cultural scene but resources are limited. How, as a young female composer, could I have the support that I needed to make this happen?

“I found an amazing artistic team. I approached the best soprano in Colombia, Betty Garces, who is also Black and from the Pacific Coast. She now lives in Berlin and sings in the European opera world. I found a choir of traditional singers and somehow, the Central Bank of Colombia supported that because they have a cultural programme and fund venues around the country. We partnered with the Colombian Youth Philharmonic and there were a lot of people involved. I wanted the lyrics and text to be written by a Black female Colombian author. I found Velia Vidal – her agency was based in London, so I was lucky enough to reach her personally. The planning and funding phase of the project took more than a year.

This is the first time ever that the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia will perform an entire programme by a female composer.

 

“When the author confirmed her participation, I’d written one song. The song was recorded here at Trinity Laban with my piano and singer friend – I sold the entire project with this song. I approached the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia and told them about the project. They loved it! I then approached the Teatro Mayor – the main venue for classical music in Colombia. They loved the project and wanted to fund it. It was a lot of trust from everyone involved, which left me with a great responsibility. We put on three performances – one in Bogotá, one in a Pacific Coast town, and one in a town near Bogotá. It was amazing because we were really able to connect with people at each of these places.”

The result is a dazzling polyphony that unites a string quartet with a clarinet, double bass, chonta marimba, piano, and the voices of a soprano with traditional singers. The piece is about the pregnancy of women from the traditional perspective of the Pacific Coast. “It’s about how a woman lives her pregnancy and how the midwives and the community support that wait. I think this beautiful theme is part of the reason why people connected with the music and why I had all this amazing support,” says Eliana. “I think I also had this support because of my experience with the LPO and Trinity Laban, and all the things I did while I was there. It’s all interconnected. This is a project that will take a few more years because we want to create a recording and eventually bring it to the UK. It’s made with a lot of craft from the musical perspective, but it also shares an important message. It’s a love letter for a tradition, a country, but also for music and maternity.”

Eliana knew that she wanted to be a musician from the age of five. When she practised the piano, she realised that she didn’t like some sections of Mozart or Beethoven’s music, and started changing them a little in a way that she preferred. “I wanted to play every instrument in the orchestra!” she says. “My music teacher told me that I needed to commit to one. I was reluctant and she suggested that I might have the classic problem of a composer – I needed a broader perspective of music that wasn’t confined to one instrument. This requires a different set of skills, and I felt the need to share my ideas with the world.”

Her main instrument remains the piano, as a principal study was a requirement at the National University of Colombia. “I always say that I had my technique training in Colombia, but I wouldn’t be the artist I am today without my experience in London. The master’s at Trinity Laban gave me the time, space, and perspective to become the artist that I am today,” she says. “I completed my master’s thanks to a scholarship from the Central Bank, and I started it five years after my undergraduate. I worked in the professional world and knew exactly what I wanted to do when I moved here.

“The master’s was an opportunity to focus exclusively on my music and the creative process, a chance to develop my artistic voice. I am very eclectic as a composer and need a lot of freedom. I looked all over the Western world and no place offered me the freedom that Trinity Laban could. The wide variety of perspectives from the teachers was fantastic. I was lucky enough to study with Errollyn Wallen and the time with her was amazing because I hadn’t had the opportunity to learn from a female composer before. It was a wonderful two years of learning and personal growth because the conservatoire’s environment hugely encouraged that.”

The master’s at Trinity Laban gave me the time, space, and perspective to become the artist that I am today.

Following her graduation from Trinity Laban, Eliana was selected for the LPO Young Composer Scheme. Her work Diásporas premiered at the LPO Debut Sounds concert in June 2024. “The scheme was amazing,” she says. “I worked a lot across my entire career to get this opportunity. I also know that I was very lucky to be in a programme mentored by this orchestra. I could experience how the orchestra worked, what rehearsals were like during any concert season, but I was also mentored by one of my heroes in music – Tania León – and I felt like the luckiest person ever. It was an amazing first step.”

Diásporas was the first work to open the LPO Debut Sounds concert in Southbank’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. “The process of this composition was difficult because I didn’t have a clear vision at the beginning. With time, the piece started shaping up and Tania helped me along this journey,” says Eliana. “She also reminded me that I had a big responsibility representing Latin culture outside of Latin America, and this is something I’d had in mind all the time since moving to London. I tried to do this in the best way possible. When they told me to go first, I was really excited because in my mind, the pieces that are the most memorable are the ones at the beginning and end of the concert.

“To be able to open the concert was great because I had all the tension from the audience and everyone was fresh. The conductor was coincidentally from Costa Rica and one of the choreographers for the piece was Chilean, so that felt like a full circle moment. I don’t generally like regionalisms, but we were collectively making a statement in this industry that doesn’t have many people from Latin America. That was amazing – my favourite part was the salsa section because no one expected that and I wanted this effect. I wanted to surprise people and make them ask why salsa piano was sounding in a classical music venue.”

A month after the performance, the LPO got in touch with Eliana to offer her a commission. “That was a major surprise,” she says. “I was expecting this commission in maybe three or four years, not a month after the concert! The LPO have a programme called Future Artists, which involves talented teenage artists receiving mentorship from LPO musicians and then they perform in a concert with some of the orchestral musicians. The orchestra wanted the first piece to be written by one of the Young Composers. I needed to meet the musicians and listen to them play, gauge their interests, personalities, and skills. We had two sessions – one meeting and one ideas workshop. With that information, I went away to write something. The instrumentation was very unusual and challenging – two violins, flute, clarinet, two trumpets, trombone, and percussion. One of the instructions was that I needed to challenge the musicians – the whole aim of the programme was artistic growth.

“We made it work! As my last piece was about migration and Latin America, I thought my next one should be a homage to the city that I now called home: Another Day in London. It would be interesting for the musicians too – we could all relate to this. They wanted something jazzy – this is my musical home – and I thought that was perfect. The project went very well and the audience really enjoyed the concert.”

In September 2025, Eliana travels to the US to continue her compositional journey. Another one of her music heroes is US classical composer Gabriela Lena Frank, who lives near San Francisco and has a music academy for composers. Every year, she picks 10-12 composers for a one-year mentorship, working with other musicians. “I met Gabriela nine years ago,” says Eliana. “I occasionally email her and sometimes send over my music. In January, she texted me with this opportunity – she had one spot to fill in the academy and she thought of me. She said that she’d seen my growth since I’d moved to London and thought that journey was amazing. She suggested that I could come to San Francisco to do the residency. I was really surprised because I didn’t apply and I wasn’t even in the US! I didn’t expect it at all. But they cover all the expenses to go there. It involves working with top players and one of the top composers, who’s also female and Latin American.

“It’s this cycle of being mentored by female composers that I’ve truly loved, and I’m hoping this opportunity will lead to something in the US. As composers and artists, we need to plant seeds everywhere. Gabriela’s very special because she’s committed to creating a safe space and supportive environment. If I can be part of doing the same thing in the future and replicate this support in my interaction with other people, that would be amazing – whatever happens.”