Benjamin Juarez Echenique is a music conductor and scholar with over four decades of experience in the arts, and was born in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

on July 17, 1951. He studied in Mexico at the National School of Music,

National University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countries. It also has 34 ...

, the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a Private university, private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for ...

, where he obtained his Master of Fine Arts in Music, as well as in Italy, France and England. He was principal guest conductor and assistant conductor of the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra from 1979 to 1981; associate conductor of the

Mexico City Philharmonic The Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra () is an orchestra of international rank founded and underwritten by the government of Mexico. The home venue is the Silvestre Revueltas Hall at the in Tlalpan, Mexico City, which opened in 1979. History ...

Orchestra from 1983 to 1987; and music director of the Gran Festival de la Ciudad de Mexico in 1989-90. He has lectured and run workshops on music and the arts in Mexico and abroad, where in 1984, Juarez was honored as the first Latin American to conduct an orchestra in China. He was Head of the Music Department at the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...

(UNAM), Musical Director of the Mexico City’s Grand Festival, and taught at the UNAM, the National Conservatory and the Superior School of Music of Institute of Fine Arts. He also founded the early music group Angelicum of

Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...

, devoted to the rescue of the music of the seventeenth century from Puebla’s Cathedral Archives. Juárez Echenique has also produced and presented hundreds of radio and television programs in Mexico. His recordings of works of Baroque Mexican masters such as Ignacio Jerusalem y Stella, Francisco Delgado,

Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla (ca. 15901664) was a Renaissance-style Spanish composer and cantor, most of whose career took place in Mexico. Life and career Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla was born in Málaga, Spain. He received his musical education f ...

, Manuel Arenzana and Fabián Ximeno for the Urtext label won him a

Latin Grammy The Latin Grammy Awards (stylized as Latin GRAMMYs) are awards presented by the Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from any ...

nomination in 2001. The same year he received the "Mexico Unido en sus valores Culturales" award. From September 2006 to August 2009 he General Director of Mexico's National Arts Center Centro Nacional de las Artes CENART as the result of a civil service selection process. He was the senior member of Mexico's Civil Service in the cultural sector. He is currently affiliated to the research university Instituto Dr. Jose Ma. Luis Mora. On August 4, 2010 Benjamin E. Juare
assumed the position
of Dean of the Boston University College of Fine Arts.

External links

Album review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Echenique, Benjamin Juarez 1951 births Mexican male conductors (music) Living people National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni Academic staff of the National Autonomous University of Mexico California Institute of the Arts alumni Boston University faculty 21st-century Mexican conductors (music) 21st-century Mexican male musicians 20th-century Mexican conductors (music) 20th-century Mexican male musicians Musicians from Mexico City