Middlesex Community College’s Professor of Music Orlando Cela was chosen by Amplify Latinx as a 2024 top 100 Latinx Leader in Massachusetts, championing and uplifting the Latino community. Cela also completed a certificate for the Program for Latine Creative Entrepreneurs from the Arts and Business Council of Boston.
“The depth and reach of the Arts and Business Council of Boston's Programa de Emprendedores Creativos (Creative Entrepreneur Fellowship) is extraordinary,” Cela said. “Their staff and faculty truly know about every single aspect of the arts business, and they provide guidance, literature, classes, exercises, and events to network and present one's work. The other fellows are artists working in many different mediums, and I can’t believe how much I learned from them about approaching art, and how inspiring they all were. I highly recommend this program to everyone.”
In addition to teaching, Cela is the music director and conductor of the Lowell Chamber Orchestra (LCO). The orchestra collaborates with community partners to host free performances, including as part of MCC’s “A World of Music” concert series each Fall and Spring semester. Cela’s selection by Amplify Latinx and his completion of the certificate is based on his work with the LCO for the last five years.
Created by MCC, the LCO focuses on classical music, educating audiences about music, and promoting the careers of artists from underserved communities. Concerts take place at the college’s Richard and Nancy Donahue and Family Academic Arts Center in Lowell.
“MCC was extremely generous to allow me to create an in-house orchestra to serve Lowell,” Cela said. “Orchestra concerts are expensive and professional orchestras outside of Lowell are too far. Socio-economics should not be a barrier to great classical music, so our audiences pay what they wish.”
From Caracas, Venezuela, Cela attended the Colegio Emil Friedman – a school from kindergarten to high school that includes a conservatory. With music as an essential part of education, this inspired Cela’s passion to become a professional musician. After completing a bachelor’s degree on a full ride to DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., he earned a master’s in flute and conducting from the New England Conservatory.
"Their staff and faculty [of the Arts and Business Council of Boston's Programa de Emprendedores Creativos] truly know about every single aspect of the arts business, and they provide guidance, literature, classes, exercises, and events to network and present one's work. The other fellows are artists working in many different mediums, and I can’t believe how much I learned from them about approaching art, and how inspiring they all were.” - Orlando Cela, MCC's Professor of Music
Before starting to work at Middlesex, he performed several times at the college as part of the concert series. MCC’s Chair of Music Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta introduced Cela to the benefits of a community college, as well as the welcoming environment MCC provides.
“We don’t have such a thing in Venezuela, so it was fascinating to learn the amount of good community colleges do – the wide range of people they help, how flexible they are in terms of providing a way to immediate employment or a four-year institution,” Cela said. “When a position opened at MCC, I naturally applied.”
For the Fall 2024 semester, Cela plans to focus on teaching diverse material. This includes highlighting the work of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and other people of color) composers, as well as the challenges they faced. Cela also hopes to show his students what they can do in their field – from having the LCO play pieces students created in Music Theory classes to holding on-campus performances for students in Music Appreciation classes.
“I hope that the students see that I am an active performer, not just a professor,” he said. “Whatever is being taught in the classroom all comes from real life experiences.”