Linda Briceno

Linda Briceño At only 24 Linda already owns an impressive list of achievements that would normally take any artist many years to accomplish: trumpet player, singer, Big Band Director and composer. Renowned musician and Jazz at Lincoln Center Musical Director, Wynton Marsalis expresses his awe on Linda when he says: “ She possesses an excellent awareness of time, rhythm and a great sound, but above all she has a deep understanding of musical concepts and ideas. There is a weight in her sound, weight, weight. This you either have it or you don’t and it is very unusual for such a young person to have it the way she does”. Notwithstanding, Linda’s talent goes beyond her professional career as a musician and projects her to a social leadership role. In 2012 the World Economic Forum embraces Linda as a Young Global Shaper in recognition of her efforts as a musician and entrepreneur in developing empowerment strategies for young artists, especially musicians, to assert their rights as creative individuals and also as a collective in Latin America. At 10 years of age, Linda participated in her first musical studio production by the now extinct label “Latin World” entitled “Tocando Tierra”. In it, she shared the studio with the likes of: Alex Acuña, Paquito D’Rivera, Armando Manzanero, Bela Fleck, Don Grusin, Abraham Laboriel, Ary Barroso, Pedro Esutache and Roger Nichols among others, she being the youngest artist in the recording. In 2004 she successfully auditioned for the “Orquesta Juvenil de Caracas” directed by maestro Gustavo Dudamel that led to participating as a first trumpet in great performances such as Gustav Mahler’s “TiTAN”. Following the success of her participation with the youth orchestra she accepted an invitation to become fifth trumpet in the now world famous “Simón Bolívar Venezuelan Youth Orchestra” under the direction of maestro Sir Simon Rattle, director of The Berlin Philharmonic. In 2010 and 2011 she was invited several times to participate as a soloist of The Miami Symphony Orchestra and Simón Bolívar Orchestra. Recently, in 2012, she made a special guest appearance with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra under the direction of Wynton Marsalis, thus becoming the first Venezuela woman to perform with this famous orchestra. Linda founded, together with his father (who is also jazz musician and director), the “Simón Bolívar Big Band” which has toured the United States and has become by now one of the leading youth jazz ensembles in the world. Additionally, she has become the youngest teacher and musical director in “Simón Bolívar’s Conservatory” in Caracas responsibilities, which she shares, with a busy Schedule as a private trumpet instructor.