Ilyich Rivas

Early life and studies

He comes from a musical family. He is a fourth generation of conductors; their parents moved to the United States when he was one year old (1994), his mother Marjorie Carrero as a Spanish and Hispano-American Literature professor and his father Alejandro Rivas as a conductor.

From a very early age showed a great interest in conducting and insisted that his father teach him to conduct. He took regular lessons from his father from the age of six and joined him to all his orchestral rehearsals and performances. He studied piano and won several piano awards throughout his teens. In 2009 he attracted the attention of Marin Alsop and Gustav Meier at the International Cabrillo Conductors Festival.

They invited him to audition in front of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for the two-year position of Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Peabody Institute Conducting fellow. This position enabled him to study conducting at the Peabody Conservatory under the guidance of Gustav Meier and to work closely with Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony. He awarded the position.

From 2009 had a four-year mentoring program over the summers under Vladimir Jurowski at Glyndebourne Festival Opera.

His father Alejandro Rivas continues to be his principal guide and mentor.

Career

Ilyich’s professional career has progressed impressively over the last five years.

He has led performances with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Prague Philharmonia, Gothenburg Symphony, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hanover, Stuttgart Radio Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, Prague Radio Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia. In addition, he has conducted the Verbier Festival Orchestra, the orchestras of London’s Royal College of Music and the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne, the Youth Orchestra of the Americas (YOA), the Youth Orchestra of Bahia, Brazil, the Chetham’s Symphony Orchestra in Manchester, UK, and the YouTube Symphony Orchestra in Sidney at the invitation of Michael Tilson Thomas.

Ilyich was assistant conductor with the London Philharmonic Orchestra during the 2012–2013 season and assistant conductor with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra during the 2009–2011 seasons. Recent highlights include his debuts with the Orchestre National de Lyon, the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and the Cameristi della Scala, a chamber orchestra comprising musicians from the orchestra of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala. As an Opera conductor, Ilyich Rivas was invited by Glyndebourne Touring Opera to conduct Le nozze di Figaro in 2012, and Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel the following season.

In 2014, he made an impressive debut with Opera North conducting several performances of La Boheme.

He has performed with such artists of international renown as Lang Lang, Stephen Hough, Simon Trpceski, Steven Isserlis, Elissabeth Leonskaja, and Alissa Weilerstein among others. As recently as 2017 he has conducted the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland as part of their Summer tour.

Awards

Has been awarded the Bruno Walter Conducting Prize and the Prix Julius Baer in Switzerland, given by the Verbier Festival to a musician of exceptional talent.