Christian Vásquez (born 1984,

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

) is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist. Vásquez began to study violin at age 9, after being accepted to the ''

El Sistema El Sistema (which translates to The System) is a publicly financed, voluntary sector, music-education program, founded in Venezuela in 1975 by Venezuelan educator, musician, and activist José Antonio Abreu.Lesniak It later adopted the motto "M ...

'' program in Venezuela, and he played in the ''Sinfónica Infantil de San Sebastián de los Reyes''. In 2001, at age 17, he began conducting studies with

José Antonio Abreu José Antonio Abreu Anselmi (May 7, 1939 – March 24, 2018) was a Venezuelan orchestra conductor, pianist, economist, educator, activist, and politician best known for his association with El Sistema. He was honored with the 2009 Latin Grammy T ...

. In 2005, Vásquez became music director of the ''Sinfónica Juvenil de Aragua José Félix Ribas'' (José Felix Ribas Juvenile Symphony Orchestra of Aragua). In 2009, Vásquez was named a

Gustavo Dudamel Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez (born 26 January 1981) is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist who is the music director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Paris Opera. Early life Dudamel was bor ...

conducting fellow with the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...

. He is currently music director of the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. In Europe, Vásquez first conducted the Gävle Symphony Orchestra in October 2009. In November 2010, he took up the post of principal guest conductor of the

Gävle Symphony Orchestra The Gävle Symphony Orchestra ( sv, Gävle symfoniorkester) is a symphony orchestra based in Gävle, Sweden. The orchestra is resident at the ''Gävle Konserthus'' (Gävle Concert Hall). History Founded in 1912, giving its first concert on 16 ...

, and held the post until 2013. Vásquez first appeared as a guest conductor with the

Stavanger Symphony Orchestra The Stavanger Symphony Orchestra ( no, Stavanger Symfoniorkester, SSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Stavanger, Norway. The SSO principal venue is the Stavanger Concert Hall (Stavanger konserthus), performing in the Fartein Valen concert hall. ...

(SSO) in March 2010. In September 2011, the SSO announced the appointment of Vásquez as its next chief conductor, as of the 2013-2014 season, for an initial contract of 4 years. He concluded his SSO tenure at the end of the 2018-2019 season.

References

External links

Askonas Holt agency biography of Vásquez

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vasquez, Christian 1984 births Venezuelan conductors (music) Male conductors (music) Living people 21st-century conductors (music) 21st-century male musicians