CARLOS RIAZUELO, Conductor

Established as one of the most important Latin-American conductors, praised by audiences, musicians and music critics in many cities for his performances of a very varied repertory, Carlos Riazuelo was born in Venezuela from Spanish immigrants, and studied violin and music theory in Caracas. His first engagement as a Music Director is at 23 with the Chamber Orchestra of the Universidad de Carabobo. After conducting seminars with Franco Ferrara in Sienna and Venice, Italy, and George Hurst in Canford, Great Britain, he obtains the Advanced Conducting Postgraduate Certificate at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama of London, receiving also the Ricordi prize for his opera conducting.

After his return from Europe he is named Artistic Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Municipal de Caracas, carrying out a varied and widespread work throughout the country, pioneering old and new repertory and taking the orchestra to the front line of Latin-American orchestras. He has conducted both in Venezuela and abroad with soloists as Henryk Szeryng, Janos Starker, Nicanor Zabaleta, Gyorgy Sandor, Yuri Bashmet, Susan Starr, Joaquín Achúcarro, Michala Petri, Jose Feghali, Joshua Bell, Philip Myers, Gerard Caussée, Stoika Milanova. Also with singers like Alfredo Kraus, Ruggero Raimondi, Samuel Ramey, Chris Merritt, Giacomo Aragall, Martine Doupouy, Susan Hinshaw, Carol Neblett, Justino Díaz, Peter Kelen, Stefka Evstatieva, Lando Bartolini, Paul Plishka, Christine Weidinger, Eugenia Grunewald, June Anderson, Dmitri Hvorostovsky.

As an opera conductor, he has conducted performances of Tosca, Bohème, Butterfly, Traviata, Norma, Don Giovanni, Cenerentola, Dido y Eneas, Don Pasquale, Sonnambula, Capuletti y Montecchi, Elisir d'amore y Trovatore, among others. As a guest conductor, he has conducted in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Spain, Belgium, Germany, France. Bulgaria, Poland and the USA.

He has recorded four CD’s. Three with the Sinfónica Municipal de Caracas -two with music of Venezuelan composers and one pairing Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances from West Side Story” and selections from Prokofieff’s ballet “Romeo and Juliet”. Another one with Spanish tenor Alfredo Kraus and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria. After this recording he was invited directly by the great singer for concerts in Las Palmas (Canary Islands) and Rosario, Argentina. Both concerts were televised nationwide.

He moved to Miami in 2005 where he became head of strings and director of orchestral studies at Florida International University’s School of Music. In August of 2009, he joined the faculty of Louisiana State University School of Music in Baton Rouge as Associate Professor of conducting and conductor of orchestras while maintaining his work as guest conductor with professional groups. His wife, Yova, is an outstanding violinist.