The League of American Orchestras and the Ibero-American Network of Symphony Orchestras (RIOS) have announced a new institutional partnership intended to strengthen cooperation between orchestras across North, Central, and South America, as well as the Iberian Peninsula. The agreement was made public on 12 December 2025 and follows RIOS’s inaugural international meeting earlier this year.
According to the announcement, the collaboration will focus on professional exchange, access to institutional resources, and the gradual expansion of Spanish-language materials produced by the League. While the initiative is presented as a step toward greater continental integration, it also reflects broader structural challenges shared by orchestras across the region, including sustainability, governance, and access to professional development tools.
From dialogue to practical tools
One of the concrete elements of the new partnership is that RIOS member orchestras will receive League memberships through September 2028, granting access to the organisation’s research and professional resources. Among the first tangible outcomes is the Spanish translation of the League’s Music Director Search Handbook, a document widely used in the US orchestra sector.
The collaboration also follows the League’s first bilingual publication earlier this year and is expected to expand through conference sessions, editorial exchanges, and other forms of professional cooperation.
What is RIOS?
Founded under the auspices of the IBERMÚSICAS Programme, RIOS brings together professional symphony orchestras from across Ibero-America. Rather than operating as a programming body, the network positions itself as a platform for coordination, dialogue, and shared strategy, aiming to articulate common challenges and promote cooperation among institutions with very different economic and cultural contexts.
RIOS currently includes orchestras from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, and several other countries in Latin America, as well as Spain and Portugal. Its activities range from maintaining an orchestra directory and data collection initiatives to developing training programmes and acting as a representative voice for the sector in international discussions.
The League of American Orchestras in context
Founded in 1942 and chartered by the US Congress in 1962, the League of American Orchestras is the principal national service organisation for orchestras in the United States. It supports a wide ecosystem that includes major symphony orchestras, regional and community ensembles, youth orchestras, conservatories, and associated professionals.
The League’s work typically centres on advocacy, research, leadership development, and the dissemination of best practices in areas such as artistic planning, administration, and governance. In recent years, it has increasingly addressed issues related to equity, institutional resilience, and organisational transformation.
A first meeting in Santiago
The partnership builds on RIOS’s inaugural meeting, held in November at the University of Chile in Santiago, which brought together representatives from more than 60 orchestras. The event highlighted both the diversity of institutional models across the region and a shared interest in long-term professionalisation and international exchange.
While the agreement does not announce joint artistic projects or funding mechanisms, it signals a growing interest in institutional alignment across the Americas, particularly in areas where orchestras face similar structural pressures despite operating in very different cultural and economic environments.
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