Chávez / Mendelssohn

Conductor
Manuel López-Gómez

Manuel López-Gómez has garnered international acclaim through his dynamic and visionary leadership, with successful engagements across North and Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. His collaborations with prestigious ensembles such as the Washington National Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Simón Bolívar Symphony, and Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, among many others, have firmly established him as a conductor of remarkable influence.

The Venezuelan maestro has been lauded for his exceptional artistry. OperaPlus.cz praised his performance with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, noting, “Manuel López-Gómez presented the audience with an incredible palette of colors, dynamics, and nuances… the new star conductor led the orchestra with magical precision.”

In addition to his concert work, López-Gómez is deeply passionate about opera. He conducted and recorded the world premiere of the newly orchestrated opera Atahualpa by Carlo Enrico Pasta in Peru for Universal Music Italy. His subsequent engagements include Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette with Juan Diego Flórez and a production of Il Viaggio a Reims at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, as well as Le Nozze di Figaro with the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra.

Over the course of more than 15 years, López-Gómez worked closely with Gustavo Dudamel on a variety of symphonic and operatic projects, including La Bohème, La Traviata, and Mahler’s Eighth Symphony in Caracas, Don Giovanni in Los Angeles, the Brahms Symphonies in Paris, and West Side Story with Cecilia Bartoli at the Salzburg Festival. In the 2017-18 season, he shared the musical direction of a new production of La Bohème at the Opéra Bastille in Paris with Dudamel.

López-Gómez began his studies in violin, piano, chamber music, composition, and conducting in Venezuela. As a product of the renowned El Sistema program, he remains committed to nurturing young talent and views this as a fundamental responsibility of his profession. He fulfilled this commitment as Music Director of the Bogotá Philharmonic Youth Orchestra from 2020 to 2023. In 2024, he assumes the role of Associate Conductor of the Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra.

Violin
Michael Hanson

Michael Hanson became concertmaster of the Colorado Springs Symphony in 1992. He has become well known to Colorado Springs audiences for his orchestral leadership, as well as many solo performances, from the music of Bach and Vivaldi to that of living composers. He has performed more than 25 concertos with orchestras throughout the west, and recently appeared as a soloist with the Hunan Symphony in Changsha, China.

Hanson was a member of the Oregon Symphony in Portland, the Grant Park Symphony in Chicago, and Concertmaster of the West Coast Chamber Orchestra. High points of orchestral playing outside of Colorado Springs include making music under the batons of Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Leonard Slatkin, and James dePriest.

Chamber music highlights include many years with the Colorado College Piano Trio, and with principal players of the Montreal Symphony at the Orford Arts Centre in Québec. Summer festivals include Tanglewood, Sunriver, Peter Britt, and Cuchara. Hanson’s principal teachers include Raphael Spiro, Joseph Silverstein, and James Maurer, with additional studies with concertmasters of some of the world’s finest orchestras.

Hanson is committed to passing music on to the next generation through educational activities. He and his wife, Catherine, co-founded the Hanson Music Academy, which brought together Suzuki string teachers and students for group instruction. Hanson later founded the Bristol Suzuki Strings program in Colorado Springs School District 11. He currently teaches orchestra at Thomas MacLaren School. Hanson’s private students have gone on to study at the finest U.S. music schools and conservatories.