
Chicago Tribune“Conductor Guerrero presided over a sensitive orchestral accompaniment, allowing the music to breathe and dialogues between soloist and ensemble to bloom.”
The New York Times“Guerrero — the music director of the Nashville Symphony and a grinning presence with expressive fingers and a shiny suit — led a subtly energetic performance, bringing out both the delicacy and the darkness in the third movement and the Schubertian wistfulness in the fourth.”
San Francisco Classical Voice“You will not find a livelier, more volcanic conversationalist than Guerrero in classical music, and certainly not a more ferocious advocate for music education.”
Boston Globe“On Thursday, guest conductor Giancarlo Guerrero led an organically shaped and viscerally powerful reading of the score, one that fused the work’s disparate gestures toward jazz, Broadway, Jewish liturgy, and the 20th-century avant-garde into a single forceful whole.”
Seattle Times“It’s an administrator’s nightmare: the grand opening of a concert season, and no conductor…Thursday night’s subscription season opener was saved by Giancarlo Guerrero, a five-time Grammy winner whose charismatic conducting and attention to detail brought to life the Mahler “Resurrection” Symphony in a performance that drew sustained cheers from the audience…Vigorously cuing the orchestra with incisive and emphatic gestures, Guerrero left no doubt about the depth of his acquaintance with the Mahler. He commanded great intensity (and often great volume) from the orchestra, particularly in the apocalyptic first movement, but was equally adept in creating an atmosphere of gentle warmth in the second and encouraging jaunty woodwind passages in the third. Tricky tempo changes, offstage ensembles and precise entrances all were managed so smoothly that it was hard to believe the conductor and the players had only just met.”
Texas Classical Review“Beneath the visual podium emoting, there was a clean, baton-less technique, and the orchestra responded with a neat precision that it hasn’t consistently demonstrated under this season’s string of guest conductors. Guerrero also has clearly latched onto the acoustic possibilities of Meyerson Symphony Center: it’s an excellent room for orchestral music, but guest conductors have to quickly adapt to the particular characteristics involved. Guerrero did just that, exploring tone qualities and achieving an ideal balance at all times.”
Boston Classical Review“Guerrero drew playing of crackling energy. The brass sounded with power and precision in the symphony’s jazzy sections, while strings glowed in shades of light and darkness.”
Cleveland Plain Dealer“Guerrero, music director of the Nashville Symphony, is a pillar of the Cleveland Orchestra family, a relative rarely far removed and always welcome…But it was the Finale, predictably, that shone brightest. Between its adept handling of Guerrero’s bold tempo and a striking level of dynamic contrast, the orchestra had a guaranteed winner on its hands, and succeeded once again in sending listeners home with much for which to be thankful.”
Bachtrack“Guerrero led a performance of theatrical grandeur, with sensitive playing from all sections of the orchestra, from the opening brass fanfares to the blazing conclusion.”
Gramophone“Guerrero guides his ensemble through a performance in which both details and arching statements are set forth to resplendent effect.”
Seen and Heard International“Possessed of a no less intense seriousness (leavened by disarming flashes of humor), Maestro Guerrero, whose manner on the podium is at once authoritative and at the same time warmly collaborative, seems to be at home in a wide range of styles. When the music wants to dance, he dances with it, though never overdoing body language to the point of distraction.”
Musical America“Giancarlo Guerrero [is] a conductor unafraid to make a splash, yet with a keen instinct for dynamic contrasts and an excellent ear for internal textures.”
Cincinnati Business Courier“The Nicaraguan-born conductor was a charismatic presence on the podium all evening, yet every gesture was musical. All of these are qualities that the CSO’s search committee will be considering in the search for a music director to succeed the outgoing Louis Langrée…Guerrero led with momentum and flair in this vivid and dramatic performance, and the musicians responded with precise and exciting playing.”
Giancarlo Guerrero is a six-time GRAMMY® Award-winning conductor and Music Director of the Nashville Symphony and NFM Wrocław Philharmonic. Guerrero has been praised for his “charismatic conducting and attention to detail” (Seattle Times) in “viscerally powerful performances” (Boston Globe) that are “at once vigorous, passionate, and nuanced” (BachTrack).
Through commissions, recordings, and world premieres, Guerrero has championed the works of prominent American composers, presenting eleven world premieres and fifteen recordings of American music with the Nashville Symphony, including works by Michael Daugherty, Terry Riley and Jonathan Leshnoff.
As part of his commitment to fostering contemporary music, Guerrero, together with composer Aaron Jay Kernis, guided the creation of Nashville Symphony’s biannual Composer Lab & Workshop for young and emerging composers.
In the 2022-23 season, Guerrero returns to lead the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Deutches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Frankfurt Opern- und Museumsorchester and Queensland Symphony.
The 2021-22 season saw Guerrero’s critically acclaimed debuts with the New York Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony and a return to conduct the Chicago Symphony in addition to performances in Nashville, Wrocław, Lisbon and Bilbao. Though live concerts in the 2020-21 season were largely canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, Guerrero performed in virtual concerts with the Houston and Boston Symphonies. He also led the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic in a recording with violinist Bomsori Kim. Their Billboard chart-topping album Bomsori: Violin on Stage was released on Deutsche Grammophon in June 2021.
Other recent additions to Guerrero’s discography include the GRAMMY® nominated recording of John Adams: My Father Knew Charles Ives & Harmonielehre with the Nashville Symphony on Naxos, and a recording of Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 and the Academic Festival Overture released on NFM Wrocław’s own label.
Maestro Guerrero has also appeared with prominent North American orchestras, including those of Baltimore, Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Montréal, Philadelphia, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, and the National Symphony Orchestra. Internationally he has worked in recent seasons with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, London Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Netherlands Philharmonic, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Brussels Philharmonic, Deutsches Radio Philharmonie and Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, as well as the Sydney Symphony in Australia. Guerrero was honored as the keynote speaker at the 2019 League of American Orchestras conference.
Guerrero previously held posts as the Principal Guest Conductor of both The Cleveland Orchestra Miami Residency and the Gulbenkian Symphony in Lisbon, Music Director of the Eugene Symphony, and Associate Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra.
Born in Nicaragua, Guerrero immigrated during his childhood to Costa Rica, where he joined the local youth symphony. He studied percussion and conducting at Baylor University in Texas and earned his master’s degree in conducting at Northwestern. Given his beginnings in civic youth orchestras, Guerrero is particularly engaged with conducting training orchestras and has worked with the Curtis School of Music, Colburn School in Los Angeles, National Youth Orchestra (NYO2) and Yale Philharmonia, as well as with the Nashville Symphony’s Accelerando program, which provides an intensive music education to promising young students from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
JULY 2022