Ilyich Rivas

Ilyich Rivas was born in Venezuela in 1993 into a very distinguished musical family - his father Alejandro Rivas is also a conductor who is currently Music Director of the Metro State Symphony Orchestra in Denver. From when Ilyich was a very young boy it was clear he had a natural talent for conducting, and he started studying with his father when he was just six years of age.

Last year Ilyich was selected as one of seven young conductors from around the world to participate in the prestigious Cabrillo Festival Conductors Workshop in California with Marin Alsop and Gustav Meier. During the course Ilyich made a very significant impression on both Marin Alsop and Gustav Meier and this has resulted in him being awarded, after an audition in front of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the position of Baltimore Symphony Orchestra/Peabody Institute Conducting Fellow starting in September 2009. This position permits Ilyich to study conducting at the Peabody Conservatory under Gustav Meier's guidance and to work closely with the Baltimore Symphony alongside Marin Alsop and conducting the BSO on certain occasions.

Each summer during the last few years, Ilyich has returned to Venezuela to conduct one of the youth orchestras in his own city, the Orquesta Simón Bolívar del Táchira. This summer Ilyich has been also invited by Glyndebourne Opera to attend rehearsals and performances at this year's festival and to be mentored by Vladimir Jurowski. Following Glyndebourne he will be one of a select group of young conductors to participate in the first Verbier Festival Conducting Academy under the guidance of Kurt Masur. On his return to the US in August he will make his professional conducting debut, conducting the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in one of their summer festival concerts.

Ilyich Rivas is currently completing his education at Denver School of the Arts in Colorado where he is a piano major.