Former Principal Clarinetist with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, Carmen Borregales is a Venezuelan clarinetist educated in the internationally renowned music program EL SISTEMA. Beginning her music studies in her hometown of Coro at the age of eight, she pursued further study at the Latin American Clarinet Academy in Caracas under prominent clarinetists Valdemar Rodríguez, Edgar Pronio, Jorge Montilla, Luis Rossi, Henry Crespo, and Gregory Parra.
Borregales has enriched her musical prowess through masterclasses with international maestros and soloists, including Antony Pay, Alain Damiens, Walter Seyfarth, Eddy Vanoosthuyse, Jonathan Cohler, Ronald Van Spaendonck, Paulo Sergio Santos, Charles Neidich, Michel Arrignon, Evgeny Petrov, Thomas Friedli, Harry Sparnaay, Alessandro Carbonare, and others. In addition to the ICA 2004 Young Artists Competition (Maryland, USA), she has successfully qualified for competitions under the World Federation of International Music Competitions including: the Geneva International Music Competition 2007, the ARD Music Competition Munich 2008, and the Carl Nielsen International Music Competition 2009.
Carmen Borregales has built an extraordinary career as an educator. In Venezuela, she dedicated over a decade to teaching at the Simón Bolívar Conservatory of Music (2003–2016) and the Latin American Clarinet Academy (2006–2016). In 2015, she undertook a music mission in Haiti as part of EL SISTEMA, where she spent a month imparting the fundamentals of playing the clarinet, music theory, and orchestral performance to young musicians. Carmen has taught and performed at international festivals and music schools in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Uruguay, Paraguay, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, and the United States. Including virtual presentations in Mexico, Peru and Argentina.
Under the tutelage of clarinet maker and soloist Luis Rossi, Carmen obtained a Master’s Degree in Clarinet Performance from the Simón Bolívar University in 2012. In August 2023, she earned a DMA in performance from the University of South Carolina, where she was a Teaching Assistant at Joseph Eller’s clarinet studio. In her Doctoral Dissertation, she introduced a comprehensive method for clarinet based on music genres from Venezuela’s popular music of traditional roots.
Carmen Borregales is an artist Buffet Crampon, Gonzalez Reeds, a Rovner ambassador, and a teaching artist at the Houston Youth Symphony Chamber Music Program. She regularly acts as first clarinet with the Orchestra San Antonio.