Eduardo Diazmuñoz
Professor and Chair of Opera;
Conductor-Musical Director of the New Music Ensemble
He came to public attention upon his debut at the Palacio de Bellas Artes of his native Mexico City at 22 years of age. Ever since, he has received numerous awards and prizes, among them the coveted prize awarded by the Mexican Union of Theater and Music Chronicles, which he has received four times. He received a Testimonial Award granted by the International Biographical Centre based in Cambridge, England as International Musician of the Year 2003 for his commitment to New Music. Diazmuñoz has also served as Music Director and Conductor of the Baja California Orchestra in Tijuana, which is dedicated to the performance of contemporary orchestral literature. When Luciano Pavarotti offered his last performance in Mexico, and it was the Baja California Orchestra, prepared by Maestro Diazmuñoz, that accompanied him for this event.
Aside from this local prominence in his home country, he has been a permanent guest for the last 29 years in 15 countries where he has achieved recognition mainly as conductor, yet he is also know as composer, pianist, percussionist, solid educator, promoter, musical events organizer, and gifted lecturer. He has conducted more than 80 orchestras, 15 of them as Resident Conductor in five countries. He was twice nominated for the “Best Classical Album” in the Latin Grammy Awards, the only Mexican conductor to have been nominated twice for this prestigious prize. He has made 28 recordings for 19 labels and is also the first Mexican conductor to have received two Golden Discs and recently a Platinum Disc. In the United States, his work with the San Diego Opera has become well known among the most discriminating operagoers on the West Coast, and he has developed a high profile and outstanding reputation in Miami and other cities where he has conducted and/or taught.
He has collaborated with outstanding musicians such as Gary Graffman, Daniel Hope, Jorge Federico Osorio, János Starker, Henryk Szeryng, Susan Starr, Eva María Zuk, and Zvi Zeitlin, among many others. Diazmuñoz has conducted over 50 world premieres as well as numerous local and national premieres in 13 countries. Worthy of mention are operas by Daniel Catán (La Hija de Rappaccíní, Mexico, San Diego and New York), Federico Ibarra (Alicia, Mexico City), the Mexican Premiere of Bernstein’s Candide, as well as his own works which have premiered in a dozen cities of Europe and the American Continent. Some of these have been recorded by artists of international stature such as pianist Eva María Zuk (Mexico) and cellist Eduardo Vassallo (London). Diazmuñoz has also composed for movies, television, and theatre.
His pedagogic passion propelled him to establish a highly successful educational series 30 years ago in conducting various orchestras. Ever since, he has been invited by different musical institutions in France, the United States, Central America, South America, and Mexico to offer courses, master classes, lectures, open rehearsals, and to serve on juries of international competitions in different music disciplines. His commitment to share and teach is evident by his legacy at the National Autonomous University in Mexico City, where he taught for five years, his appointments at the National Conservatory in Mexico City and at the New World School of the Arts in Miami, FL. He too served as juror for professional examinations and concerto competitions at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, France, and the Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, FL.
He brings together his substantial training from the “old school,” under the mentorship of Leon Barzin - after the first year of studying with Barzin, Diazmuñoz became his assistant in Paris for the remaining two years of his stay - and Leonard Bernstein. Diazmuñoz possesses an affinity for today’s pre-professional singers and their musical and technical needs in both traditional and contemporary musical theatre.