Conductor

Following a global recording and performing career spanning over two decades as 1st violinist with the Philharmonia Orchestra, in 2024 Adrián conducted the Philharmonia on a well-received first tour of a major international symphony orchestra to Mauritius. The seeds for his inspiring, empathetic, and human music-making were planted while hammering the Berlin Wall on New Year's Eve 1989, during a European tour of the JM World Youth Orchestra.

Adrián was Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Polish National Youth Orchestra POM LYO from 2015 to 2021, conducting international tours of Poland and Germany, and yearly live video broadcasts on National Polish Radio NOSPR. From 2014 to 2024 he held the same posts with the One Tree Hill Sinfonia, a London semi-professional orchestra he co-founded. With OTHS he developed innovative audience engagement strategies and concert formats, and carried out substantial fundraising work for local, national, and international charities. He was awarded a first-ever Arts Council England National Lottery Grant to produce, direct and conduct a film featuring rising vocal stars singing with the OTHS.

Before graduating with postgraduate violin, and pedagogy degrees from the Royal Academy of Music, and an MMus from the University of London, Adrián conducted acclaimed public runs of opera in his native Uruguay, including Mozart’s ‘Bastian und Bastienne’ and Purcell’s ‘Dido & Aeneas’, the latter being praised as ‘Fantastic: everything seems right, and by design. The choir sounds splendid. The orchestra, effective, top-grade. Unmissable; a crown to end the ‘Cabildo’ season’ (La Mañana).

Adrián and Sheku Kanneh-Mason in rehearsal

Adrián studied conducting with an erstwhile protégé of Celebidache, Montenegro, in Argentina, with whom he learned to combine the Romanian's philosophical approach with the grounded technique of Ceccato. His first contact with conducting, aged 15, was with the late Lorin Maazel at Interlochen, USA. Maazel would become his main reference over nearly two decades, simultaneously while as 1st violinist in the Philharmonia Orchestra, and privately as an unofficial mentor. Other renowned conductors who have generously given Adrián their time, advice, and encouragement over the years, are Salonen, Jarvi, Hrusa, Steffens, and Rouvali.

In the 2024/25 season, Adrián will be assisting Ryan Bancroft, principal conductor of BBC NOW, and will be conducting Strauss Also Sprach Zarathrustra, Prokoffiev Romeo and Juliet, Mendelssohn incidental music from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Debussy Prelude à l’Après-Midi d’un Faune, Respighi Pines of Rome, and Walton Henry V suite, in a series of concerts as guest conductor with the London City Orchestra.

He has been described by Adrian Partington, Director of the BBC National Chorus of Wales, as ‘one of the most inspirational musicians I have ever worked with.’

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