Pablo González
CONDUCTOR
Pablo González
CONDUCTOR
Biography
Biography
Pablo González brings passion, insight and a theatrical sensibility to communicating music to both orchestras and audiences. He serves as Principal Guest Conductor of Tenerife Symphony Orchestra and, from September 2027, begins his tenure as Music Director and Principal Conductor of Orchestre national d’Île-de-France. Previous positions have included Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser of Spanish Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra (RTVE) and Music Director of Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya (OBC).
González is recognised for his imaginative programming, creating musical journeys that connect repertoire with history and ideas. At RTVE he devised themes such as Music under Suspicion, exploring the work of Soviet composers under Stalin’s rule; Echoes of the Belle Époque, culminating in a semi-staged performance of Carmen; and Roots, examining the influence of folk elements on 19th and 20th-century orchestral repertoire. While drawn instinctively to the passion and power of Russian repertoire, he also presented surveys of Berlioz, Mahler and Szymanowski, music by Spanish contemporary composers, and full Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms cycles.
During his tenure as Music Director of the OBC, González conducted complete Mahler and Schumann cycles, led the orchestra on tour, recorded orchestral works by Granados and Bizet’s Carmen and L’Arlésienne suites for Naxos, and championed new music by Catalan and Spanish composers. He also strengthened the orchestra’s community engagement through Et toca a tu, a collaborative project bringing OBC musicians together with children at risk of social exclusion. His theatrical background informs his work in opera and choral repertoire. While in Barcelona, he conducted productions at Teatre Liceu including Strauss’s Daphne, Wagner’s Rienzi, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Puccini’s Il tabarro, as well as all of Mahler’s orchestral lieder. Recent highlights include the world premiere of Zarqa Al-Yamama, the first Arabic-language Grand Opera, by Lee Bradshaw, and this season, he conducts Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro with Ópera de Tenerife.
As a guest conductor, González has developed close relationships with orchestras including Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Residentie Orkest, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège and Bochum Symphony, with recent invitations from Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, London Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He is highly in demand in his native Spain, enjoying collaborations with the country’s most prestigious orchestras.
Born in Oviedo, González studied conducting at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and won prizes at the prestigious Donatella Flick and Cadaqués International Conducting competitions. He also took formal training to be an actor at the Academy Drama School in London, as well as taking other drama courses, and has appeared as an actor on stage and screen. Equally passionate about opera, distinguished opera highlights of the recent seasons include successful Glyndebourne tours of Don Giovanni and L’elisir d’amore; Carmen in San Sebastian and Tosca, Don Giovanni and Madama Butterfly in Opera de Oviedo.
Video
Video
Gallery
Gallery
Concerts
Concerts
Upcoming Concerts
Discography
Discography
News
News
Reviews
Reviews
“The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra was clearly blown away by its spirited guest conductor Pablo González. With clear gestures and rhythmic finesse, he interpreted a convincing sound panorama with the very gifted orchestra. [...] The orchestra and conductor clearly got along very well. Let’s hope that we will soon be able to experience this special conductor again in Frankfurt!”
“A successful debut. The orchestra and the conductor form a brilliant and contrasting declaration of love for joy, cheerfulness and fearlessness.
- Sächsische Zeitung, Rainer Kasselt, January 2019”
“González’s merit is that he creates musical cosmos in which the music breaths and swells, he allows the dialogue between the orchestra sections and its soloists and he is able to connect with the audience. Not many conductors are capable of such a feat.
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“Pablo González’s vehement conducting was effectively accurate and succeeded in getting across a wide variety of emotions, bewitching the audience.”
“In Manuel de Falla’s ballet suite “El sombrero de tres Picos” Gonzalez developed that conducting passion, that vitality, which had been promised and which also drew out from the Dresdner Philharmonic the necessary tonal nuances and the orchestral richness of colour one could expect.”
“With his virtuosic baton technique, impulsive sign language, and evident empathy, Gonzalez made a convincing contribution to this music. Russian themes, along with those of dreams, were the headline. Moody expanse was created in the Adagio, with a folk-like horn sound, followed by the darting, graceful Scherzando and a sweeping waltz. Even the final, counterpoint-adorned, rapid dance with its banal closing bars came together, under Gonzalez’s direction, in harmonious unity. A perfect Russian evening.”
“And last, but not least, on the honour roll, the extraordinary work of the Oviedo-born conductor Pablo González (1975). To each his own, and in this concert, and for the whole programme, he gets the highest place on the podium. It’s just fair”
“Standing out was young conductor Pablo González, who was attentive to every silence and every cue for the entire symphony orchestra, weaving and managing this tonal revolution”
“[Pablo González] provided the score [Madama Butterfly] with a symphonic feel that greatly benefited the musical discourse. Ample and varied dynamics, richness in timbre and a deep engagement from the Oviedo Filarmonía were all key elements”
“González conducted Richard Strauss’s spectacular tone poem [Thus spoke Zarathustra] with an eloquent narrative thrust, elegant phrasing and a solid understanding of the composer’s architecture”
“González instilled greatness into a work [Verdi’s Requiem] that combines, in equal percentages, lyric emotion, expressive sincerity and spirituality void of rapturous mysticism”
“González approached Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra successfully and in a very unique way”
“Pablo González, receptive, flexible, gave the reins to the soloist [Arcadi Volodos] but he remained attentive and close [...] A vigorous reading by Pablo González [...] Little by little the work that this tenacious and patient conductor has been doing with this orchestra ever since he arrived is showing. It won’t be long before it shines through in all its glory.”
“A calm and paused, yet unstoppable career””
“He has a clear idea about where he wants to go and he communicates it effectively and through limpid language”
“The London Symphony Orchestra weekend in Madrid had a protagonist: Pablo González”
Contact
Contact
General Management
Jordi Martín Mont
T: +44 (0) 7934568677E: jordi@maestroarts.com
Callum Langford
T: +44 (0) 7842426202E: callum@maestroarts.com
MAESTRO ARTS
West WingSomerset House
Strand, London
WC2R 1LA
www.maestroarts.com
Fantasie C major op. 131 for Violin and Orchestra
Violin Concerto in d minor
Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern
Lena Neudauer, violin
Released on SWR 2010
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