Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez | |
---|---|
Born |
Granada, Spain |
17 September 1949
Nationality | Spanish |
Citizenship | Spanish |
Occupation | Composer and conductor |
Spouse(s) | Alessandra Ruiz-Zuñiga Macías (2010) |
Website | www |
Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez (born 1949 in Granada, Spain) is a Spanish conductor and composer. With Germanic education, he is known for his ability not to need a score when conducting and for his rigour when he interprets works always respecting the composers' intentions.
Born within a family of musicians, his father was a professor in the Band of Granada and his mother a pianist. Since childhood he was very clear that he wanted to become a conductor.
"I started to study music at the age of four, by my own will and against my parent's will."
At the age of five he was able to pass an examination at the Victoria Eugenia Music Conservatory of Granada and at the age of seven in 1957, he climbed to the podium and did not only steadily conduct the professors of the Band, but also corrected some errors made by the transcriber in the score.
At age of thirteen he got the title of piano professor at the Music Conservatory of Granada and at age of seventeen he won the 'Extraordinary Prize' in composition at the Music Conservatory of Madrid. 1964 he moved to Madrid and he got the First Class Diploma and the Price of the Conservatory at the final course.
With the March scholarship, Gómez-Martínez continued his studies of orchestra and choral conducting in Vienna under Hans Swarowsky’s direction. He got his qualification at the age of 21, with the Prize of the Austrian Ministry of Education and Sciences.
His debut as conductor is dated at Sankt Pölten near Vienna, 1973 and then he conducted in Lucerne and Berlin, where he conducted “Fidelio” by Beethoven. In Spain he made his debut 1975 at the International Music and Dance Festival in Granada.
From this moment he began a career which led him to become Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of numerous international orchestras: permanent conductor at the Vienna State Opera (1976-1982), in which he was distinguished later by becoming permanent guest conductor, and Chief Conductor of the Spanish Radio Television Symphony Orchestra (RTVE) (1984-1987), where he was preceded by Enrique García Asensio and Odón Alonso. In 1987 he announced his intention to leave this orchestra as several improvements of the musician's conditions were not fulfilled, such as a higher remuneration and a better image. Chief Conductor or the Teatro de la Zarzuela (1985-1991), He became Chief Conductor of the Euskadi Orchestra (1989-1993), General Music Director of the City of Mannheim (1990-1993) Musical and Artistic Director of the New Finnish National Opera Helsinki (1993-1996), Chief Conductor of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra (1992-2000), orchestra which has nominated him as Honorary Director, Chief Conductor of the Orquesta de Valencia (1997-2004), in which he continues being guest conductor, General Music Director of the Theatre of Bern (2000-2004), Director of the National Theatre in Mannheim (2004-2005) and since 2004 he is the Musical Director of the Easter Festival Orchestra in Bayreuth.