Ángel Gil-Ordóñez is a Spanish-born American conductor who co-founded the PostClassical Ensemble with music historian

Joseph Horowitz Joseph Horowitz (born 1948 in New York City) is an American cultural historian whose seven books mainly deal with the institutional history of classical music in the United States. As a producer of concerts, he has played a pioneering role in ...

and serves as its Music Director. He is also the Principal Guest Conductor of New York’s Perspectives Ensemble and the Music Director of the Georgetown University Orchestra in Washington, D.C. Additionally, he serves as advisor for education and programming for Trinitate Philharmonia, a program in Mexico modeled on Venezuela’s El Sistema, and is also a regular guest conductor at the

Bowdoin International Music Festival The Bowdoin International Music Festival is an annual summer music school and concert series that takes place in Brunswick, Maine. Founded in 1964 as a program of Bowdoin College, it has operated as an independent nonprofit organization since 19 ...

in Maine.

Background

Born in Spain on September 5, 1957, Gil-Ordóñez grew up in an intellectual family that valued Spanish culture. He focused on violin in his teens. For university, he reached a compromise with his family: they would allow him to study toward becoming a professional musician at the Madrid Conservatory of Music if he would first study Engineering at the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid. Having completed both those degrees successfully, in 1974 he began higher-level music studies at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid. There, he focused on violin, polyphony and choir conducting, harmony, counterpoint, and music history. He also studied in the Musical Analysis Master Classes with

Jacques Chailley Jacques Chailley (24 March 1910 – 21 January 1999) was a French musicologist and composer. Alain Lompech, "Jacques Chailley, musicologue-praticien et infatigable chercheur", ''Consociatio internationalis musicæ sacræ, Musicæ sacræ ministeriu ...

. He studied under

Sergiu Celibidache Sergiu Celibidache (; 14 August 1996) was a Romanian conductor, composer, musical theorist, and teacher. Educated in his native Romania, and later in Paris and Berlin, Celibidache's career in music spanned over five decades, including tenures ...

for more than six years. He also studied with

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music. Born in Mont ...

and

Iannis Xenakis Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also spelled for professional purposes as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis; el, Γιάννης "Ιωάννης" Κλέαρχου Ξενάκης, ; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001) was a Romanian-born Greek-French avant-garde ...

in France. In 1978, a concert of Sergiu Celibidache's conducting the London Symphony Orchestrat decided him: he would become a conductor. In 1983, he moved to France to study Contemporary Music at Paris's Centre Acanthes with

(composition),

Irvine Arditti Irvine Arditti (born 8 February 1953) is a British violinist, as well as the leader and founder of the Arditti Quartet. Biography Arditti attended the Central Foundation Boys' School in London before continuing his studies at the Royal Academy ...

(violin), James Wood (choral conducting), and

Claude Helffer Claude Helffer (18 June 1922 – 27 October 2004) was a French pianist. Early life Helffer was born in Paris, and began piano lessons at the age of five and from the age of ten until the outbreak of World War II he studied with Robert Casa ...

and Rudolph Frisius (musical analysis). He also studied with

(Conducting Master Classes) in Avignon. In 1985, he moved to Munich to study with

Munich Philharmonic The Munich Philharmonic (german: Münchner Philharmoniker, links=no) is a German symphony orchestra located in the city of Munich. It is one of Munich's four principal orchestras, along with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Ra ...

's conductor Sergiu Celibidache. He studied with: the

Münchner Philharmoniker The Munich Philharmonic (german: Münchner Philharmoniker, links=no) is a German symphony orchestra located in the city of Munich. It is one of Munich's four principal orchestras, along with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Rad ...

, the

Hochschule für Musik Mainz The Hochschule für Musik Mainz (HfMM, Mainz School of Music) is a university of music, part of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. It is the only such institution in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. History The institution was ...

, Master Classes in

Cluny Cluny () is a commune in the eastern French department of Saône-et-Loire, in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. It is northwest of Mâcon. The town grew up around the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, founded by Duke William I of Aquitaine in ...

and Paris, and Conducting Courses at the Scuola di Alto Perfezionamiento Musicale in Saluzzo, Italy. He performed two assistantships at the Orchesterakademie des Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Germany. From 1985 to 1991, he broadened studies across European repertoire and studied composition with

Günter Bialas Günter Bialas (19 July 1907 – 8 July 1995) was a German composer. Life Bialas was born in Bielschowitz (today Bielszowice, a subdivision of Ruda Śląska) in Prussian Silesia. His father was the business manager of a German theatre, and hi ...

, Paul Engel, and Fredrik Schwenk and violin with Rony Rogoff.

Conducting

In 1991, Gil-Ordóñez moved back to Spain for appointment to the National Symphony Orchestra of Spain as Associate Conductor. He founded the chamber orchestra Academia de Madrid, of which he became Music Director. He was also Principal Guest Conductor of the Classical Orchestra of Madrid. In 1997, he came to Washington, DC, and founded musica aperta Washington, of which he was as Music Director 1997–2001. Also in 1997, he co-founded the IberArtists New York, Inc., of which he remains Music Director. In 2000, he toured Spain with the Valencia Symphony Orchestra for the Spanish premiere of

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

's ''Mass''. On May 4, 2015, he led the Georgetown University Orchestra in a

Cinco de Mayo Cinco de Mayo ( in Mexico, Spanish for "Fifth of May") is a yearly celebration held on May 5, which commemorates the anniversary of Mexico's victory over the Second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, led by General Ignacio Zaragoz ...

performance for President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

. Currently, he serves as follows: * PostClassical Ensemble (Washington, DC): Music Director and co-founder * IberArtists (New York, NY): Music Director and co- founder * Perspectives Ensemble (New York, NY): Principal Guest Conductor * Trinitate Philharmonia (León, Mexico): Advisor He has also appeared with the following: * American Composers Orchestra * Opera Colorado * Pacific Symphony * Hartford Symphony * Brooklyn Philharmonic * Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Abroad Other performance groups, venues, or events include: * Munich Philharmonic * Solistes de Berne * Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival * Bellas Artes National Theatre (Mexico City)

Personal

Gil-Ordóñez is married with one child. He resides in Washington, DC. He became an American citizen in 2009.

Teaching

As an educator, Gil-Ordóñez current serves as Adjunct Professor and Music Director at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

's Department of Performing Arts in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

He also serves as the Music Director of the Georgetown University Orchestra.

Awards

Since 2006, Gil-Ordóñez's title in Spanish has been "Caballero de la Real Orden de Isabel la Católica." * 2010 – WAMMIE Award for Classical * 2006 – ''La Real Orden de Isabel la Católica'' (Royal

Order of Isabella the Catholic The Order of Isabella the Catholic ( es, Orden de Isabel la Católica) is a Spanish civil order and honor granted to persons and institutions in recognition of extraordinary services to the homeland or the promotion of international relations a ...

), Spain's highest civilian decoration, awarded by the King of Spain * Various – named 3 times Naxos "Artist of the Week"

Works

Gil-Ordóñez appears on nine Naxos recordings.

Video (DVD)

* 2016 - ''Redes'' -

Silvestre Revueltas Silvestre Revueltas Sánchez (December 31, 1899 – October 5, 1940) was a Mexican composer of classical music, a violinist and a conductor. Life Revueltas was born in Santiago Papasquiaro in Durango, and studied at the National Conservatory ...

(conductor) * 2009 - ''The City'' -

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...

(conductor) * 2007 - ''The Plow that Broke the Plain'', ''The River'' -

Virgil Thomson Virgil Thomson (November 25, 1896 – September 30, 1989) was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music. He has been described as a modernist, a neoromantic, a neoclassic ...

(conductor)

Albums (CD)

* 2019 - ''Falla: El amor brujo (1915 original version) / El retablo de Maese Pedro'' -

Manuel de Falla Manuel de Falla y Matheu (, 23 November 187614 November 1946) was an Andalusian Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first hal ...

(composer) *2017 - ''Lou Harrison: Violin Concerto / Grand Duo / Double Music'' -

Lou Harrison Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American composer, music critic, music theorist, painter, and creator of unique musical instruments. Harrison initially wrote in a dissonant, ultramodernist style similar to his for ...

(composer) * 2014 - ''Dvořák and America'' -

Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czechs, Czech composer. Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravian traditional music, Moravia and his native Bohemia, following t ...

(conductor, arranger) * 2014 - ''Xavier Montsalvatge: Madrigal sobre un tema popular / 5 Invocaciones al Crucificado / Folia daliniana'' -

Xavier Montsalvatge Xavier Montsalvatge i Bassols (; 11 March 1912 – 7 May 2002) was a Spanish composer and music critic. He was one of the most influential music figures in Catalan music during the latter half of the 20th century. Biography Life Montsalvatge ...

(composer) * 2013 - ''Madrigal sobre un tema popular'', ''5 Invocaciones al Crucificado'', ''Folia daliniana'' -