One of the brightest of a new generation of Latin American conductors Pablo Varela was born in Tijuana, Mexico in 1973. He studied Orchestral Conducting at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan and Composition with Franco Donatoni at the Lorenzo Perosi Academy in Biella and at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, where in 1997 he won the prestigious Diploma of Merit. He is the founder and artistic director of the International Philharmonia of the Californias and current Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the "Umberto Giordano" State Conservatory of Music in Foggia, Italy.