Miguel Gómez Martínez

Born into a musical family in Granada on September 17, 1949, Spanish conductor Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez made a name for himself as a child, conducting at the city's International Music Festival from the age of seven. He continued his studies at the Madrid Conservatory, winning prizes in piano, violin and composition, before joining Hans Swarowsky in Vienna to extend his training in orchestral and choral conducting. Awarded a prize by the Austrian Ministry of Science, he won the Nikolai Malko Competition in Copenhagen and began his career in 1971 in Sankt Pölten (Austria), following it the following year in Lucerne (Switzerland) and in 1973 conducting the Berlin State Opera in Fidelio (Beethoven), where he remained under contract for three years. Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez subsequently moved from one orchestra to another, between the Vienna State Opera (1976-1982), the Spanish Radio-Television Symphony Orchestra (RTVE Symphony Orchestra, 1984-1987), Madrid's Teatro de la Zarzuela (1985-1991) and the Basque National Orchestra (1989-1993). From 1990 to 1993, he combined this last post with that of General Director of the Mannheim Opera and a teaching post at the German city's Academy of Music, before going on to direct the National Opera in Helsinki, Finland, until 1996. Appointed conductor of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra in 1992, he made several recordings until the end of his tenure in 2000. This assignment overlapped with the direction of the Orchestra of Valencia between 1997 and 2004, in parallel with a contract at the Bern Opera (Switzerland), from 2000 to 2004. Later, the Spanish conductor became Music Director of the Easter Festival in Bayreuth, Germany. His recordings include the Concierto de Aranjuez with guitarist Eduardo Fernandez in 1986, Villa-Lobos' Five Piano Concertos with pianist Cristina Ortiz in 1992, Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville with Elīna Garanča and Lawrence Brownlee in 2006, and the recital La Bellezza del Canto with soprano Olga Peretyatko in 2011. Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez was also an acclaimed composer, recording some of his orchestral works in 1999 and receiving several honorary titles, before passing away on August 4, 2024 at the age of 74.

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