Christian Vásquez (born 1984,

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (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 northern p ...

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 ...

) is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist.

Biography

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 " ...

'' 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 Gramm ...

. 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. He is currently the music director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is scheduled to become the Music and Artistic ...

conducting fellow with the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil) is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. The orchestra holds a regular concert season from October until June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from ...

. He was music director of the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra of Venezuela from 2010 to 2017. 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 () 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 January that year, the orchest ...

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

Stavanger Symphony Orchestra The Stavanger Symphony Orchestra (, 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. History The Norwegian Broad ...

(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. During this period, he became principal guest conductor of Het Gelders Orkest as of the 2015-2016 season.

References

External links

Official homepage of Christian Vásquez

ACM Concerts agency biography of Christian Vásquez

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