He is a violinist and conductor born into an important musical family in Puerto Rico who began his musical studies when he was taught by his uncle and father, as well as Pablo Casals, at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music and followed that by entering the Juilliard School in New York where he was taught conducting.
Venturing out into his musical career he became a co-founder of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in 1973 and over the years toured the world with them as concertmaster and soloist as well as performing on Mario Davidovsky’s “Concertino fo Violin and Orchestra” world premiere at Carnegie Hall in 1995.
Seen with other orchestras he was the founder of Festival de Musica Rondena with his wife, the violinist Valerie Turner, has appeared at top venues with the Figueroa Chamber Ensemble, he was New York City Ballet’s concertmaster for a decade and worked with the American Symphony for the 2006-7 season with whom he gave the further world premiere of a violin concerto by Harold Faberman written specifically for him.
He has also been present at many music festivals such as the El Paso Pro Musica Chamber Festival and the Santa Fe Chamber Orchestra, is Music Director of the Music in the Mountains Festival in Colorado and created a Berlioz Festival in 2003.
Much in demand as a conductor and guest conductor he has led several orchestras such as the the Juilliard Orchestra, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the New England Conservatory Orchestra, the El Salvador Symphony Orchestra and many of America’s national symphony orchestras. He was the Music Director for the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra for six years until 2006/7, becoming their became their Principal Guest Conductor and went on to be the Music Director of the New Mexico Symphony. He has been Music Director of the Music in the Mountains Festival in Durango, Colorado, and been the Music Director and Conductor of the Lynn Philharmonia. He is also the Artistic Director of The Figueroa Music and Arts Project.
Some of the acclaimed musicians he has worked with throughout the course of his career in concerts and in the recording studio include Placido Domingo, James Galway, Hilary Hahn, Ruth Laredo , Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and many, many more. His works can be heard on many albums such as his The Artistry of Guillermo Figueroa.
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra recordings
Adagio in G Minor (Tomaso Albinoni/Remo Giazotto )
Deutsche Grammophon 429 390-2 GH (CD: Albinoni: Adagio, Pachelbel: Canon)
He is a soloist here in the 4th Movement of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons performed by The Figueroa Project…
Sources:
- http://www.guillermofigueroa.com/
- http://www.hughkaylor.com/figueroa/
- http://www.bard.edu/institutes/ci/interior/fac-GF.html
- http://cdbaby.com/cd/guillermof
- https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_Figueroa
- http://www.abqcs.org/artists07/guillermo/
- http://www.answers.com/topic/the-artistry-of-guillermo-figueroa?cat=entertainment
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/563324-Guillermo-Figueroa?filter_anv=0&type=Credits