Posted by Ernie Minchella on Feb 23, 2018
Maestro Gomez will speak about his new life in Tucson as he approaches the finale of his inaugural season. He will focus on why a strong symphony is important to Tucson and how the orchestra plays an integral role in the education of our young people.  In addition, he will share some highlights of the TSO’s upcoming 90th season and our developing relationship with Mexico.
 
Biography ~ José Luis Gomez
 
The Venezuelan-born, Spanish conductor José Luis Gomez was catapulted to international attention when he won First Prize at the Sir Georg Solti International Conductors’ Competition in Frankfurt in September 2010, securing a sensational and rare unanimous decision from the jury.
 
Gomez’s electrifying energy, talent and creativity earned him immediate acclaim from the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra where he was named Assistant Conductor, a post created especially for him by Paavo Järvi and the orchestra directly following the competition.
 
Gomez started his musical career as a violinist, and by the age of 11 he was Concertmaster of the Youth Orchestra of Zulia State, part of El Sistema de Orquestas Juveniles de Venezuela. He graduated in music and violin from the Manhattan School of Music before embarking on a European orchestral career. Deciding to follow his dream to have more creative input and influence on musical direction, he took conducting lessons from Lu Jia, Muhai Tang and John Nelson. After just six months of study he won the Georg Solti competition.
 
Since then he has worked with the RTVE National Symphony Orchestra of Madrid, the Houston and Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestras, National Arts Centre Orchestra of Ottawa, Hamburg Symphony, Basel Sinfonietta and Orquesta Sinfonica do Porto. From 2012 to 2015, he was principal conductor of the Orchestra 1813 Teatro Sociale di Como where he led performances of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni, to name a few.
 
The 16/17 season saw Gomez named Music Director of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. The season also included appearances with Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio, Winnipeg Symphony, Szczecin Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, Daegu Symphony Orchestra, and return engagements with the Edmonton Symphony and the Macau Orchestra.
 
In 17/18, with the Tucson Symphony, Gomez will conduct concerts with Yo-Yo Ma, Arturo Sandoval and Gil Shaham and two programs with the Tucson Desert Song Festival observing the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein's birth.  He will also conduct the world premiere of a work by Anthony Constantino, an alumnus of the TSO’s well-known Young Composers Project. New engagements this season will include the Louisiana Symphony and Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife. He will also return to the Edmonton and Winnipeg Symphonies and the Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio.
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