Carlos Riazuelo is one of the most important Latin-American conductors, praised by audiences, musicians
and music critics in many cities for his performances of a very varied repertory. Carlos
Riazuelo was born in Venezuela from Spanish immigrants, and studied violin and music
theory in Caracas and in London, where he obtains the Advanced Conducting
Postgraduate
Certificate at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama of London, and the
Ricordi prize
for his opera conducting
Artistic Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Municipal de Caracas for many years, has
conducted both in Venezuela and abroad with soloists as Henryk Szeryng, Byron Janis,
Janos Starker, Nicanor Zabaleta, Gyorgy Sandor, Yuri Bashmet, Susan Starr, Joaquín
Achúcarro, Michala Petri, Jose Feghali, Joshua Bell, Philip Myers, Gerard Caussée,
Stoika Milanova, also with singers like Alfredo Kraus, Ruggero Raimondi, Samuel Ramey,
Chris Merritt, Giacomo Aragall, Martine Doupouy, Susan Hinshaw, Carol Neblett, Justino
Díaz, Peter Kelen, Stefka Evstatieva, Lando Bartolini, Paul Plishka, Christine
Weidinger, Eugenia Grunewald, June Anderson, Dmitri Hvorostovsky. His opera repertory
includes fully staged performances of Tosca, Bohème, Butterfly, Traviata, Norma, Don
Giovanni, Cenerentola, Dido y Eneas, Don Pasquale, Sonnambula, Capuletti y Montecchi,
Elisir d'amore y Trovatore, among others. As a guest conductor, he has conducted in
Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Spain, Belgium, Germany, France. Bulgaria,
Poland and the USA.
He has recorded four CD’s, three with the Sinfónica Municipal de Caracas and one with
Spanish tenor Alfredo Kraus and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria.
He became head of strings and director of orchestral studies at Florida International
University’s School of Music and from 2009 until December 2020 was Associate Professor
of conducting and conductor of orchestras at Louisiana State University while
maintaining his work as guest conductor with professional groups.
He is currently living in Madrid carrying out several projects in education and
performance.