Ollantay Velásquez was born in the city of Puerto La Cruz, Anzoátegui State, Venezuela on January 13, 1981. He began his musical studies in theory and violin in 1989 with teacher Alcides Maestre in the city of Carúpano.

 

In the same year, he joined the Children’s Symphony Orchestra of Carúpano and the Symphony Orchestra of Sucre State. In November 1991, he became a member of the violin section of the “Antonio Vivaldi” Chamber Orchestra, with whom he participated in international tours in Argentina and the Caribbean Islands, visiting Saint Vicent, Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico, and Santa Lucía.

In August 1992, he participated in the Children and Young Musicians Competition, held in the city of Córdoba, Argentina, taking first place. He also performed as a soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of the Municipality of Rosario and with the Symphony Orchestra of Santa Fé.

 

He obtained 2nd place in the classical category at the III Festival of Violin of the Andes, held in Tovar, Merida State, Venezuela, in December 1992. In August 1994, he joined the Symphony Orchestra of Anzoátegui State as the Principal of the First Violins and obtained the position of Concertino the following year.

 

As a Concertino, he participated in several national and international tours in cities such as Bogotá and Tunja in Colombia in 1995, and in August 1998 to the Province of Catalonia, Spain. He has been a Concertino in symphony orchestras such as Children’s Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, the Ibero-American Youth Symphony Orchestra, the MERCOSUR Symphony Orchestra (Brazil), and in 2005 in the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, with which he participated in a tour throughout the American continent.

 

As a soloist, he has performed high-level concerts, among them: Spanish Symphony (Eduard Lalo), Violin Concerto in E Minor (Félix Mendelssohn), The Four Seasons (Antonio Vivaldi), Concerto in D Major (P. I. Tchaikovsky), Concertos No. 4 and 5 (H. Vieuxtemps), Violin Concerto No. 2 (H. Wienawski), among others.

 

His teachers have been: José Francisco Del Castillo, Rubén Cova, Sergio Celis, Jesús Hernández, and Alcides Maestres; he received musical training at the Latin American Academy of Violin in the city of Caracas, under the direction of the teacher José Francisco Del Castillo. He has received Master Classes with teachers Donald Weilerstain (USA), Felicitas Hoffmeister (Berlin Philharmonic), and Jean-Jacques Kantorow (France), among others.

 

He was the founder and first violin of the prestigious Millennium Quartet in 2000, with which he performed numerous concerts in important venues such as Lincoln Centre in Washington (USA), Teatro Colón (Argentina), Casa De Beethoven in Bonn (Germany) and tours through the main countries of America, Asia, and Africa.

 

He was the founder and first violinist of the Libertadores Quartet in 2012 with which he participated in important tours and concerts at the Carnegie Hall in New York (USA), London (England), Edinburgh Festival (Scotland), and other venues around the world.

 

He has directed groups such as the Jose Francisco Del Castillo Youth Symphony Orchestra, Simón Bolívar Conservatory Youth Orchestra, Anzoátegui Youth Symphony Orchestra, Juan José Landaeta Symphony Orchestra, Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra and is the Artistic Director of the Simón Bolívar Chamber Orchestra.

 

He is currently the Musical Director of the Jose Francisco Del Castillo Youth Symphony Orchestra since 2017, and the Concertino of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra since 2018.