Raul Gomez

NEW APPOINTMENT: Assistant Conductor, Louisiana Sinfonietta

Dear Friends,

I am thrilled to share with you that I have been appointed Assistant Conductor of Louisiana Sinfonietta, starting in September! 

I am very excited to return to this wonderful organization (I was a violinist in the orchestra from 2006 to 2008). I have great admiration and respect for Maestro Dinos Constantinides (Louisiana Sinfonietta’s founder, music director and conductor) and look forward to working with him.

Season tickets are already available online. Go ahead and buy yours before it’s too late! More details below.

Have a wonderful summer!

All best,

Raul

“The Jewel of Baton Rouge”

Louisiana Sinfonietta is an independent, nonprofit organization, wholly supported by its patrons and state and local grants. It emerged in the early 1980′s as a core of the Baton Rouge Symphony, becoming a chamber orchestra with Dinos Constantinides as its conductor who, at that time, was the BRSO concertmaster and Assistant Conductor.
In October of 1987 the orchestra moved to the De La Ronde Hall where concerts were held until the 1996-97 season, after which in an effort to accommodate a larger audience, the ensemble moved to the Pennington Center Hall. Also, during this growth period, the name of the orchestra was changed from the Baton Rouge Sinfonietta to the Louisiana Sinfonietta.
Read more…

Dinos Constantinides

The music of Greek born composerDinos Constantinides (Boyd Professor of Composition) has been performed throughout the world. He is the recipient of many grants, commissions and awards, including first prizes in the 1981 Brooklyn College International Chamber Competition, the 1985 First Midwest Chamber Opera Conference, and the 1997 Delius composition Contest Grand Prize. He also received the 1985 American New Music consortium Distinguished Service Award, the 1989 Glen Award of l’Ensemble of New York, several Meet the Composer grants and numerous ASCAP Standard Awards. In 1994 he was honored with a Distinguished Teacher White House commission on Presidential Scholars.

Read more…

BossaRica LIVE (Jan 20)

BossaRica is Raul Gomez, Marcelo Vieira and Ronaldo Cadeu.

We are getting back together to share an evening of great music with our friends! We’ll be home at the International Cultural Center at Louisiana State University.

Mark your calendars for Friday, January 20th at 8:00pm. Get your tickets today! Click here for more information.

We hope to see you there!

Conductors’ Guild + Midwest Young Artists

Dear friends,

I’m thrilled to announce that I have been selected as one of the only 10 participants in the upcoming Conductors Guild Conductor Training Workshop with the Midwest Young Artists to be held in Chicago, IL January 7, 2012.

This invitation includes registration for the Conductor’s Guild Annual Conference that will be held at Roosevelt University in Chicago, IL from January 5 to 8.

I will be conducting Chicago’s Midwest Young Artists Symphony Orchestra under the guidance of master faculty David Effron, Allan Dennis, Gordon Johnson and Patrick Pearson.

I’m SO excited about this. I also get to go to a Chicago Lyric Opera Subscriber Appreciation Concert with Reneé Fleming and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, a CSO Dress Rehearsal and tours of the Symphony Center, the Center for Black Music Research and the Chicago Lyric Opera.

I’m also looking forward to maybe seeing some of my Aspen classmates there.

Better pack my good winter jacket!

Thanks for reading,

Raul

go to RGomezMusic.com

Music by Chad Cannon

While in Aspen, I had the pleasure of conducting and recording Chad Cannon’s “Meeting Mephistopheles”. This recording is now available on Chad’s website. Check it out!

Bio: Chad Cannon graduated from Harvard College in 2011, with an emphasis on composition and Japanese studies. His most recent work, A Thousand Years in Shuri, was awarded a Thomas Temple Hoops Prize as his Senior Honors Thesis, and was premiered in Paine Hall by some of his peers, including Deutsch Grammophon violinist Ryu Goto. Read more…

Thank you Aspen!

After my last conducting assignment yesterday in Aspen, I’m now cleaning my apartment and playing Pandora Radio on my Los Fabulosos Cadillacs/Irakere station, enjoying my day off.

I’m looking forward to our last AACA concert tomorrow with Rite of Spring, and excited about our score study session with Slatkin on Wednesday and the Mahler 2 concert with Spano on Sunday.

What a fabulous summer! Thank you AACA Orchestra, Maestri Spano, Rachleff, Wolff and Sidlin, fellow conducting students, AMSF Faculty and Administration, Sodexo staff, Maestro Riazuelo back home, Sarah and my parents for your support, and everybody else who made this life-changing experience possible.

Lots of love,

Raul

LSU student named Kids’ Orchestra artistic director

WAFB - Baton Rouge

Kids’ Orchestra of Baton Rouge recently announced the appointments of LSU School of Music doctoral student Raul Gomez as artistic director  and Eliza Eaton as project director.

A native of Costa Rica, Gomez is a conductor, violinist, composer and teacher working to complete his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting at LSU. He is a Sidney M. Blitzer violinist and a Huel D. Perkins Fellow in the university’s Doctor of Musical Arts program

As artistic director, Gomez said he is looking forward to working with the very talented team of Kids’ Orchestra teachers, student and their families to start a movement that will make a huge difference in the community.

“I am a strong believer in the power of the arts to help improve our society and culture and that’s what Kids’ Orchestra is all about,” Gomez said. “Growing up in Costa Rica, I had the privilege of studying music in a similar program and it definitely changed my life.”

Laurence Kaptain, dean of the LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts, said he felt Gomez’s appointment speaks to the serious intent of Kids Orchestra of Baton Rouge to assure quality in instruction and excellence in the structure of this ambitious project.

“He [Gomez] is a proven artist, talented composer, inspirational teacher and creative leader who will provide important direction, while serving as a role model for the students and teachers associated with the program,” Kaptain said.

Eaton, a violist who is formerly of Teach for America, has worked with the United Nations World Food Program, Rotary International Youth Exchange and the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis.

Eaton said she knows the power that music can have in influencing a student to strive harder to reach a goal, inspiring a group to work together to create something magical or building a child’s self-esteem.

“Kids’ Orchestra will bring the children of Baton Rouge the opportunity to play, create and explore the wonderful world of rhythm and sound together,” Eaton said. “I look forward to helping build a program that will, one day, see every elementary school student in Baton Rouge learning and growing through music.”

Kids’ Orchestra is a year round program designed to foster social change and nurture promising futures for youth in Baton Rouge. In collaboration with a broad array of community partners, Baton Rouge’s Kids’ Orchestra program will provide music education, instruments and performance and leadership development opportunities to Baton Rouge’s kindergarten through fifth graders.

“I am so excited about our five fabulous schools for our inaugural year – Capitol Elementary, The Dunham School, Lanier Elementary, LSU Laboratory School and Melrose Elementary,” Kids’ Orchestra Founder and Board Chair Nanette Noland said. “My dream of providing an excellent staff is coming together, and I am delighted that our Kids’ Orchestras are already booked for Christmas events.”

For more information on Kids’ Orchestra, contact Executive Director Gwen Jones at 225-922-4656 or visit www.kidsorchestra.org.

For more information on the LSU School of Music, visit www.music.lsu.edu.

Original Article at http://ebrsouth.wafb.com/news/arts-culture/lsu-student-named-kids-orchestra-artistic-director/49443

Aspen Conducting Fellowship

I got a very nice surprise this week: A Conductor Fellowship became available with the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen Music Festival and they have invited me to attend! I will spend 8 weeks studying with Maestros Robert Spano, Larry Rachleff, Hugh Wolff and Murry Sidlin, and surrounded by many world-class musicians. I’m very thankful for this opportunity, especially to my teacher and mentor Carlos Riazuelo at LSU. While at Aspen, besides learning intensively from everybody around me, I intend to bring attention to Kids’ Orchestra and the great potential that this program has for Baton Rouge. Looking forward to it!

Support Kids’ Orchestra!

Kids’ Orchestra is a year-round program dedicated to bringing music education to every child in Baton Rouge, fostering collaboration, and encouraging personal and community development. In collaboration with a broad array of community partners, Kids’ Orchestra will provide music education, instruments, leadership development, and performance opportunities to kindergarten through fifth grade students in the Baton Rouge area.

Get involved!! More information here: www.kidsorchestra.org