Ilyich Rivas (born June 9, 1993) is a

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

n-American

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

. He made his professional debut at the age of 16 in front of the

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) is an American orchestra based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The ASO's main concert venue is Atlanta Symphony Hall in the Woodruff Arts Center. History Though earlier organizations bearing the sam ...

, and has subsequently made successful debuts with a number of important orchestras in Europe, Australia and America.

Early life and studies

He comes from a musical family. He is a fourth generation of conductors; their parents moved to the United States when he was one year old (1994), his mother Marjorie Carrero as a Spanish and Hispano-American Literature professor and his father Alejandro Rivas as a conductor. From a very early age showed a great interest in conducting. He took regular lessons from his father from the age of six and joined him to all his orchestral rehearsals and performances. He studied piano and won several piano awards throughout his teens. In 2009 he attracted the attention of

Marin Alsop Marin Alsop (; born October 16, 1956) is an American conductor. She is the first woman to win the Koussevitzky Prize for conducting and the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She is music director laureate of the Baltimor ...

and Gustav Meier at the International Cabrillo Conductors Festival. They invited him to audition in front of the

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore SO has its principal residence at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where it performs more than 130 concerts a year. In 2005, ...

for the two-year position of

Peabody Institute Conducting fellow. This position enabled him to study conducting at the

Peabody Conservatory The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University is a private music and dance conservatory and preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1857, it became affiliated with Johns Hopkins in 1977. History Philanthropist and ...

under the guidance of Gustav Meier and to work closely with

and the Baltimore Symphony. From 2009 had a four-year mentoring program over the summers under

Vladimir Jurowski Vladimir Mikhailovich Jurowski (;() born 4 April 1972) is a Russian conducting, conductor resident in Germany. He is the son of conductor Michail Jurowski, and grandson of Soviet film music composer Vladimir Michailovich Jurowski. Early life B ...

Glyndebourne Festival Opera Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England. History Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, e ...

. His father Alejandro Rivas continues to be his principal guide and mentor.

Career

Ilyich has led many performances including with the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...

, Prague Radio Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León and the

Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia is a Spanish orchestra, created in 1992 and based in A Coruña A Coruña (; ; also informally called just Coruña; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality in Galicia, Spain. It is ...

. In addition, he has conducted the Verbier Festival Orchestra, the orchestras of London's Royal College of Music and the

Australian National Academy of Music The Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) is a classical music performance training facility situated in Melbourne. History ANAM was established in 1994, as part of prime minister Paul Keating's "Creative Nation" initiative. On 23 Octo ...

in Melbourne, the Youth Orchestra of the Americas (YOA), the Youth Orchestra of Bahia, Brazil, the Chetham's Symphony Orchestra in Manchester, UK, and the

YouTube Symphony Orchestra The YouTube Symphony Orchestra (YTSO) was an orchestra assembled by open auditions hosted by YouTube, the London Symphony Orchestra and several other worldwide partners. Launched on December 1, 2008, it was the first online collaborative orchestra ...

in Sydney at the invitation of

Michael Tilson Thomas Michael Tilson Thomas (born December 21, 1944) is an American conductor, pianist, and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of the S ...

. Ilyich was assistant conductor with the London Philharmonic Orchestra during the 2012–2013 season and assistant conductor with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra during the 2009–2011 seasons. Recent highlights include his debuts with the

Orchestre National de Lyon The Orchestre National de Lyon (ONL) is a French orchestra based in Lyon. Its primary concert venue is the Maurice Ravel Auditorium. The orchestra operates with the help of a subsidy from the Ministry of Culture (France), French Ministry of Cult ...

, the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken, the

Edmonton Symphony Orchestra The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (ESO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Edmonton, Alberta. As the professional orchestra of Alberta's creative capital city it presents over 85 concerts a year of symphonic music in all genres, from classical to co ...

, and the Cameristi della Scala, a chamber orchestra comprising musicians from the orchestra of Milan's Teatro alla Scala. As an Opera conductor, Ilyich Rivas was invited by Glyndebourne Touring Opera to conduct ''

Le nozze di Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna ...

'' in 2012, and Humperdinck's ''Hänsel und Gretel'' the following season. In 2014, he made his debut with Opera North conducting several performances of

La Bohème ''La bohème'' ( , ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '':wikt:quadro, quadri'', ''wikt:tableau, tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto b ...

. In May 2022, he made his debut at the

Philharmonie de Paris The Philharmonie de Paris () () is a complex of concert halls in Paris, France. The buildings also house exhibition spaces and rehearsal rooms. The main buildings are all located in the Parc de la Villette at the northeastern edge of Paris in the ...

as guest conductor to conclude the 2021/2022 season of the

Orchestre National d'Île-de-France The Orchestre national d'Île-de-France is a French symphony orchestra with its administrative base in Alfortville. The orchestra, made up of ninety-five permanent musicians, gives around a hundred concerts each season, thus offering Ile-de-France ...

and its tour of France's

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

region. He has performed with such artists of international renown as

Lang Lang Lang Lang (; born 14 June 1982) is a Chinese pianist who has performed with major orchestras around the world and appeared at many leading concert halls. Active since the 1990s, he was the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Berlin Phi ...

Stephen Hough Sir Stephen Andrew Gill Hough (; born 22 November 1961) is a British-Australian classical pianist, composer and writer. Biography Hough was born in Heswall (then in Cheshire) on the Wirral Peninsula, and grew up in Thelwall, where he began pi ...

, Simon Trpceski,

Steven Isserlis Steven John Isserlis (born 19 December 1958) is a British cellist. An acclaimed soloist, chamber musician, educator, writer and broadcaster, he is widely regarded as one of the leading musicians of his generation. He is also noted for his div ...

, Elisabeth Leonskaja, and Alissa Weilerstein among others. As recently as 2017 he has conducted the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland as part of their Summer tour.

Awards

Has been awarded the Bruno Walter Conducting Prize and the Prix Julius Baer in Switzerland, given by the Verbier Festival.

References

External links

Ilyich Rivas
on YouTube
I, Culture Orchestra . Ilyich Rivas . Concert in Minsk
on YouTube * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rivas, Ilyich 1993 births Living people Venezuelan conductors (music) Male conductors (music) American male conductors (music) 21st-century American conductors (music) 21st-century American male musicians