Giancarlo Guerrero's 09/10 season marks his first as Music Director of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. A champion of new music, Guerrero has collaborated with and championed the music of several of America's most respected composers, including John Adams, John Corigliano, Osvaldo Golijov, Jennifer Higdon, Michael Daugherty and Roberto Sierra.  A new CD on Naxos of music by Michael Daugherty, with the Nashville Symphony, is scheduled for release in September 2009 ... read full bio

Giancarlo Guerrero's 09/10 season marks his first as Music Director of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. A champion of new music, Guerrero has collaborated with and championed the music of several of America's most respected composers, including John Adams, John Corigliano, Osvaldo Golijov, Jennifer Higdon, Michael Daugherty and Roberto Sierra.  A new CD on Naxos of music by Michael Daugherty, with the Nashville Symphony, is scheduled for release in September 2009.

Mr. Guerrero's guest conducting engagements in the 09/10 season include appearances with the symphony orchestras of Milwaukee, New Jersey and Fort Worth, the Pacific Symphony, in Costa Mesa as well as the Curtis Institute of Music.   Abroad, he conducts the Symphony Orchestras of Vancouver and Edmonton in the fall and the Slovenian Philharmonic in the spring.

As a guest conductor, Guerrero recently made two important debuts abroad: his European debut with the Gulbenkian Orchestra, where he was immediately invited to return, and his UK Debut with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He has also recently made successful debuts with several major American orchestras, including the Baltimore Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra (where he was invited back for a subscription week and tour), the Seattle Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Philadelphia Orchestra (where he returned in the 07/08 season). Other recent orchestral engagements in North America include appearances with the orchestras of Columbus, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Phoenix, San Antonio and San Diego; the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., and at the Grant Park Festival.   

Also in demand in Central and South America, Guerrero conducts regularly in Venezuela with the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, with which he has had a special relationship for many years. His debut at the Casals Festival with Yo-Yo Ma and the Puerto Rico Symphony in 2005 was followed by return engagements in 2006 and 2007. He also made his debut at the Teatro Colón in Argentina in 2005.  Elsewhere he is a regular guest conductor of the Auckland Philharmonia in New Zealand.  

Equally at home with opera, Guerrero works regularly with the Costa Rican Lyric Opera and in recent seasons has conducted new productions of Carmen, La bohème and most recently a new production of Rigoletto.  In February 2008, he gave the Australian premiere of Osvaldo Golijov's one-act opera Ainadamar at the Adelaide Festival, to great acclaim.

In June 2004, Guerrero was awarded the Helen M. Thompson Award by the American Symphony Orchestra League, which recognizes outstanding achievement among young conductors nationwide.

Guerrero holds degrees from Baylor and Northwestern universities. He was most recently the Music Director of the Eugene Symphony.  From 1999 to 2004, Mr. Guerrero served as Associate Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra. He made his Minnesota Orchestra subscription debut in March 2000, leading the world premiere of John Corigliano's Phantasmagoria on the Ghosts of Versailles.  He returned on subscription every subsequent season during his time there. Prior to his tenure with the Minnesota Orchestra, he served as music director of the Táchira Symphony Orchestra in Venezuela.