MEET THE CONDUCTOR
Simón Gollo
Tammy and Charles Miller Assistant Conductor
Simón Gollo is recognized as a versatile and charismatic musician, enjoying a thriving international career spanning chamber music, teaching, solo performances, and conducting. Additionally, he is a recording artist with the global label IBS Classical and is represented by HALAC Artists and Meluk Kultur Management together with the Reverón Piano Trio.
In January 2023, Simón Gollo was appointed Artistic Director and Conductor of the Carolina Youth Symphony and conductor for the Furman Symphony Orchestra. Named as the conductor of the New Mexico State University Philharmonic in 2016, Simón Gollo has experienced extraordinary growth in this facet of his career that has not gone unnoticed. He has received numerous invitations to conduct both youth and professional orchestras through the United States, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, and Venezuela. He is also a recording artist for the worldwide recording label IBS Classical, and is represented, alongside the Reverón Piano Trio, by HALAC Artists and Meluk Kultur Management. Since January 2022, he has served as the artistic director at the New England Music Camp.
Simon was recently appointed as Professor of Violin at the University of North Texas. He will share his time between UNT and the Plano Symphony Orchestra in the upcoming season.
Simón Gollo has graced countless stages across Europe, and the American continent from Canada to Chile. His extensive career has led him to perform at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall (New York), Cadogan Hall (London), the 92nd Street Y’s Kaufmann Concert Hall (New York), the National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC), Bolívar Hall (London), Teatro Teresa Carreño (Caracas), Auditorio Blas Galindo (Mexico City), Auditorio Manuel de Falla (Granada), and Teatro Mayor (Bogotá), for renowned organizations including the BBC Proms Festival, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and the Chamber Music Society of Detroit. He has collaborated with international figures such as Alessio Bax, Ricardo Morales, Dmitri Berlinsky, Monique Duphil, Edicson Ruiz, Paul Rosenthal, John Novacek, Alissa Margulis, Jakob Koranyi, Miguel da Silva (Ysaÿe Quartet), Richard Young (Vermeer Quartet), Ori Kam (Jerusalem Quartet), Randolph Kelly, and the Cuarteto Latinoamericano, among many others.
His journey as a chamber musician encompasses solo performances of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, Brahms’ Double Concerto, Bottesini’s Double Bass Concerto, and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, collaborating with prestigious orchestras including the “Orquesta Sinfónica de Venezuela”, “Filarmónica de Bogotá”, “Orquesta Sinfónica de Salta” (Argentina), Central Ohio Symphony (USA), Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio (USA), and “Orquesta de Caxias do Sul” (Brazil), among others. These collaborations have been conducted under the baton of renowned conductors such as Conrad van Alphen, Theodore Kuchar, and Carlos Izcaray. In 2020, his album “CHAUSSON,” alongside pianist John Novacek, garnered widespread critical acclaim from prestigious magazines such as Scherzo, Melómano, Mundo Clásico, El Diario de Sevilla, and Fanfare. Furthermore, his most recent album, created in collaboration with the Reverón Piano Trio, received the esteemed ‘Melómano de Oro’ award from a leading classical music magazine in 2023.
As an orchestra conductor, Simón Gollo has built a brilliant career directing orchestras such as the Simón Bolívar Chamber Orchestra and is set to make his debut with the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba. He is consistently invited to conduct various youth and professional orchestras throughout North and Latin America.
Simón Gollo has solidified his national reputation as a distinguished violin instructor during his tenure at both NMSU and Furman University from 2015 to 2024. His students consistently achieve remarkable success, winning concerto competitions, gaining admission to renowned music festivals, and excelling in orchestra auditions nationwide. Now, poised to embark on a new chapter, Simon Gollo ascends to the esteemed position of Associate Professor of Violin at the prestigious University of North Texas, further cementing his legacy as a violin teacher.
SUGGESTED READING
by Mary Auld
With pictograms of a full-size symphony orchestra and information on all of the instruments and music featured, as well as a foreword by Sir Simon Rattle, renowned Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra, this is the must-have book on the makeup of an orchestra and its instruments for children aged 7+.