The Venezuelan-born, Spanish conductor José Luis Gomez began his musical career as a violinist and was catapulted to international attention when he won First Prize at the International Sir Georg Solti Conductor’s 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 appointed to the position of Assistant Conductor, a post created especially for him by Paavo Järvi and the orchestra directly upon the conclusion of the competition.
In 2016, Gomez was named Music Director of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. Since taking the helm, the orchestra has seen a marked increase in subscribers and donors to the orchestra and Gomez has worked tirelessly to introduce innovative and exciting new outreach activities whilst continuing to nurture and support existing education projects. Maestro Gomez is also a champion of many composers from his native South America, programming their works sensitively with more recognized classical names, creating hugely interesting and unique concerts. He has also been responsible for commissioning new works from composers such as Arturo Marquez, Michael Torke, Jonathan Leschnoff, Gabriela Smith, Peter Boyer and Jennifer Higdon, as part of important Co-comissions premiered in Tucson.
His Tenure in Tucson as the Music Director of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra has seen Gomez not only conduct pieces of the core repertoire such as the complete Beethoven’s Symphonies, Schumann, Schubert and Mahler Symphonies but also he has had the chance to explore exciting works new to the orchestra´s repertoire such as William Grant Still, Florence Price, Fela Sowande, the Tucson born Ulises Kay, among others. Gomez has also invited and enjoyed working in Tucson with such important guest artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Midori, Renée Fleming and Gil Shaham.
The beginning of last 22/23 Season saw Gómez conducting debuts with the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington DC in a program that featured the world premiere of the concerto for Cello and Clarinet written by Cuban Composer Paquito d´Rivera for the acclaimed cello soloist Yo-Yo Ma, as well as concerts with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, in a program that included music by Richard Strauss and Brahms 2nd Piano concerto with soloist Sir Stephen Hough.
Other highlights of the past 22/23 season saw also Gomez conducting his home ensamble, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra , in different important programs including the one with violin star Hilary Hahn playing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, Mahler´s Symphony No.2 “Resurrection”, Beethoven´s Symphony No.9 “Choral” to name a few.
Other important guest engagements during the season included the Omaha Symphony Orchestra conducting Bruckner´s Symphony No.4 “Romantic”, Symphony San Jose featuring Arturo Marquez´s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra with Anne Akiko Meyers as soloist and the closing season gala of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra with Gil Shaham as soloist.
This next season 23/24 features his return to Washington DC to conduct his subscription debut with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center of performing arts , a program with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra featuring the music of Rachmaninoff and Florence Price Violin Concerto No.2 with Rachel Barton Pine as soloist, his debut with the Rhode Island Philharmonic with pianist Garrick Olhsson, returns to Tenerife Symphony Orchestra with cellist Johannes Moser as soloist and two new opera productions of La Boheme, at the Teatro Coccia in Novara, Italy and at the Opera Theater Saint Louis with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.
HIs current position as Music Director of the Tucson Symphony will see him conduct the orchestra within a wide range of repertoire and soloists including, Verdi’s Requiem, Holst “The Planets”, new commissions from composers such as Jennifer Higdon and Peter Boyer and the special return of cellist superstar Yo-Yo Ma performing the Saint Saëns Cello Concerto No.1; just a few highlights of his 7th Season at the helm of the orchestra.
In The Americas he has worked with such orchestras as the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra of Ottawa, Vancouver, Colorado, Grand Rapids, Winnipeg, and Alabama Symphonies, the Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio, Rochester & Louisiana Philharmonics, Pasadena and Elgin symphonies, and made his debut at Carnegie Hall with the Youth International Philharmonic. Further south, he has worked with Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira, Orquestra Sinfônica de Porto Alegre, Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra and Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional del Perú.
He has worked extensively at home in Europe with such orchestras as RTVE National Symphony Orchestra of Madrid, Weimar Staatskapelle, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, Hamburg Symphony, Karlsruhe Staatstheatre Orchestra, Basel Sinfonietta, Orquesta Sinfonica do Porto, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y Leon, Orchestra Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano, Sinfonia Varsovia, SWR Radio Sinfonie-orchester Stuttgart, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, a very successful debut with Komische Oper Berlin with Gabriela Montero as soloist, an extensive tour of the UK with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra and guitarrist Milos Karadaglic with great acclaim and a return to conduct the same orchestra with cellist Johannes Moser in their season performing in different important venues of Belgium including the Center for Fine Arts of Brussels (BOZAR).
In Australasia he has worked with the Macau Orchestra and violinist Nemanja Radulovic, New Zealand Symphony, Australian National Academy of Music in a Celebration of Bernstein, the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, the Daegu Symphony Orchestra, as well as conducting and curating the programme for the inaugural year of the Solasian Youth Orchestra at the Daegu Festival.
Other memorable performances included debuts at the Moscow State Conservatory Great Hall, the widely televised New Year’s gala concert in Sofia, Bulgaria, and with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra in their New Year concerts featuring soloists such as baritone Ildebrando d´Arcangelo and cellist Daniel Müller Schott.
Opera highlights have included La Bohème at Frankfurt Opera, a new production of Rossini’s La Cenerentola at Stuttgart Opera, of which he also conducted the revival in the following season, La Forza del Destino in Tokyo with the New National Theatre, Don Carlo and Norma at The State Opera in Tbilisi, Georgia, La Traviata in concert with Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra, Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Cavalleria Rusticana with the Teatro Sociale di Como and a special Zarzuela Gala with Opera de Tenerife.
He has also featured with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra a recording of Bela Fleck's Second Concerto for Banjo and Orchestra "Juno Concerto", and conducted the MGD CD release of the Nielsen, Francaix and Debussy Clarinet Concertos with clarinetist Vladimir Soltan and the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra.
Maestro Gomez was the Principal Conductor of the Orchestra 1813 of the Teatro Sociale di Como between 2012 and 2015 where he curated a new symphonic season, which resulted in a new and enthusiastic audience, conducting concerts to full houses which leaded him to receive the “Premio Citta di Como” for his services to nurture and expand the quality and impact of the theater in the community. He is currently the Musical Director of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra where his contract has been extended to the end of the 26/27 season.