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<\/a>Juanjo Mena began his conducting career in his native Spain as Artistic Director of the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra in 1999. His uncommon talent was soon recognized internationally with appointments as Principal Guest Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic and Chief Guest Conductor of the Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa. In 2011 he was named Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, which he led for seven seasons, taking the orchestra on tours of Europe and Asia and conducting annual televised concerts at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms. His BBC tenure featured, notably, \u201cthrilling\u201d (The Guardian<\/em>) performances of Bruckner Symphonies, a cycle of Schubert Symphonies and set new standards for the interpretation of Spanish and South American repertoire. He held the position of Principal Conductor of the Cincinnati May Festival, the longest running choral festival in North America, served by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, until 2023. His tenure reinvigorated the Festival\u2019s repertoire with previously unheard music and new commissions (Julia Adolphe, James MacMillan, Missy Mazzoli, Ellen Reid, James Lee III), and expanded its audience both in numbers and in demographic reach.<\/p>\nA sought-after guest conductor, Juanjo Mena has led Europe’s top ensembles including the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, London Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, Tonhalle Orchester Z\u00fcrich, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and the Dresden Philharmonic among others. He also appears regularly with all the major orchestras in his native Spain. Following his North American debut with the Baltimore Symphony in 2004, he has conducted most of the continent’s leading orchestras. They include the Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Montreal Symphony and Toronto Symphony Orchestras. In Asia, he is a regular guest conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo.<\/p>\n
During the 24\/25 season, Juanjo Mena returns to conduct the New York Philharmonic, with Ren\u00e9e Fleming and Rod Gilfry as soloists. Other guest performances this season include returns to the Cincinnati May Festival, Dallas Symphony, Baltimore Symphony and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. In Europe, he returns to the Berlin Philharmonic, Spanish National Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony, Orchestra Filarmonica della Fenice and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, amongst others. <\/p>\n
In the world of opera, Juanjo Mena conducted a new production of Arthur Honegger\u2019s Joan of Arc at the Stake<\/em> with Marion Cotillard in the leading role, paired with Debussy\u2019s La damoiselle \u00e9lue<\/em> staged by Madrid\u2019s Teatro Real in 2022. His operatic work includes Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman<\/em>, Richard Strauss’ Salome<\/em>, Elektra<\/em>, Ariadne auf Naxos<\/em>, Bartok’s Duke Bluebeard\u2019s Castle <\/em>and Schoenberg’s Erwartung<\/em> as well as productions of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin <\/em>in Genoa, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro <\/em>in Lausanne, and Beethoven’s Fidelio<\/em> and Britten’s Billy Budd<\/em> in Bilbao.<\/p>\n Mena’s latest release of Roberto Gerhard\u2019s orchestral works with the BBC Philharmonic on the Chandos label has been praised by The Guardian<\/em> as \u201cdeft and exuberant\u201d. His disc of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6 has been described by The Classical Review<\/em> as \u201cintensely musical,\u201d \u201cimpressive\u201d and with a “spectacular sound”. Mena\u2019s rich discography with the BBC Philharmonic on Chandos also includes an acclaimed Gabriel Piern\u00e9 release selected as a Gramophone<\/em> Editor\u2019s Choice, Weber Symphonies, Ginastera\u2019s orchestral works to mark the composer\u2019s centenary, and new reference recordings of lesser performed Spanish repertoire including Arriaga\u2019s orchestral pieces, works by Alb\u00e9niz, Montsalvatge and Turina, as well as three discs of works by Manuel de Falla featuring his opera La Vida Breve<\/em>. In 2012 Juanjo Mena recorded Messiaen\u2019s Turangal\u00eela Symphony<\/em> with the Bergen Philharmonic for the Hyperion label, a disc said to \u201cutterly redefine the terms under which past\/current\/future Turangal\u00eelas<\/em> need to be judged\u201d (Gramophone<\/em>). <\/p>\n Juanjo Mena studied conducting with Sergiu Celibidache following his musical education at the Madrid Royal Conservatory where he was mentored by Carmelo Bernaola and Enrique Garc\u00eda Asensio. In 2016, he was awarded the Spanish National Music Award. He lives with his family in his native Basque Country. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Juanjo Mena, Conductor Juanjo Mena began his conducting career in his native Spain as Artistic Director of the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra in 1999. His uncommon talent was soon recognized internationally with appointments as Principal Guest Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic and Chief Guest Conductor of the Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa. In 2011 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"navigation-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juanjomena.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juanjomena.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juanjomena.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juanjomena.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juanjomena.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":65,"href":"https:\/\/juanjomena.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1213,"href":"https:\/\/juanjomena.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11\/revisions\/1213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juanjomena.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}