Gonzalo Farias, associate conductor of the Houston Symphony. Photo by Roland Lim.
In last Monday’s (9/18) Houston Press, Sam Byrd writes, “The Houston Symphony is preparing to launch its 2023-24 season, and with that will come one more fresh face in the organization. Gonzalo Farias has assumed the role of assistant conductor, as a complement to music director Juraj Vacuha, to lead the organization into its ever-expanding work in Houston, the symphonic world and beyond. Born in Santiago de Chile, Farias started studying piano at the age of five, earned his bachelor’s degree at the P.C. University of Chile and continued his studies at the New England Conservatory as a full-scholarship student … Farias recalls his first time encountering a symphony orchestra as nothing short of life changing. ‘I was mesmerized by the energy of so many different people playing music and somehow tuning … into one cohesive group. That was an enormous, very meaningful experience for me,’ he said…. ‘From there, I always knew that I was going to be a conductor.’… He previously served as associate conductor at the Kansas City Symphony, the Jacksonville Symphony, and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.” He participated in the 2022 League of American Orchestras Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview, “the most important showcase for conductors in America.”
