Carol Salgado was born in Coro, Venezuela, in 2000. She began her musical training at the age of six with music theory and then cello as part of «El Sistema». In 2014 she continued her cello studies with Valmore Nieves at the National Cello Academy in Caracas. In 2017 she joined the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. She participated in master classes with Venezuelan cellists such as William Molina and Germán Marcano and in various music festivals, including the Festival Internacional de Música de Esmeraldas, where she studied with Gary Hoffman, Andrew Mark and Francisco Vila Haas, and the 2018 and 2019 festival Quito Cellos. Starting in 2019, she continued her music studies at the Royal Conservatory in Liège, where Sébastien Walnier and Jean-Pierre Borboux were her teachers, graduating with a bachelor’s degree. In Belgium, she was a member of the Youth Orchestra Flanders and a substitute at the Walloon Royal Opera in Liège. She is currently studying for a master’s degree in the class of Jean-Pierre Borboux and Sébastien Walnier. Since 2022, Carol Salgado has been playing a 1913 cello by Darche, generously loaned to her by the foundation L’instrument du musicien. Starting in September 2023, Carol Salgado is a member of the Luxembourg Philharmonic Academy and is supported by the Œuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte.
Can you present us your instrument in three words?
I would say «easy to play», that’s three words.
Do you remember the first time you fell in love with your instrument?
When I played in the National Youth Orchestra in Venezuela. We performed Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony and there were some 20 cellos, I think! It was really great experience: I felt part of something bigger.
If you could have dinner with one composer or artist (dead or alive), who would it be and why?
I would have dinner with Shostakovich. I love him, I’m really a fan of Russian music!
If you had to impress someone at an audition, what piece would you play?
Either Haydn’s or Schumann’s Cello Concerto.
What have been your favourite moments with the Luxembourg Philharmonic Academy so far?
The last chamber music concert we did the 13.01.2025 was super nice, we played one of my favourite pieces, Shostakovich’s String Quartet N° 8, so I had a lot of fun. The tour in Stockholm was also great. Besides playing in the orchestra, I also like the cello lessons with the members of the section: they are amazing, and I’ve learned so much in the year and a half I’ve been here.
When you’re not busy playing music, where are we most likely to find you?
I guess sleeping… I like to be at home: I have two pets, a hamster called Gru, and a chinchilla called Mr. Pickles, so I like to spend time with them. I also enjoy reading. Right now, I’m reading The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak, a Turkish author.
What three songs are living rent-free in your head?
I would say, I like it by Cardi B, The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived by Taylor Swift and the fourth movement of Shostakovich’s Symphony N° 5, which is great. I always have it on my mind.
©: Sebastien Grebille
