Tito Muñoz
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
and is currently Music Director of the Opéra national de Lorraine
Opéra national de Lorraine
Opéra national de Lorraine is an opera company and opera house located in the city of Nancy in the French province of Lorraine. Formerly named the Opéra de Nancy et de Lorraine, it was given the status of "national opera" in 2006....
and Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy
Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy
Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy is a French symphony orchestra based in the city of Nancy in the province of Lorraine....
. He was previously Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1918, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Severance Hall...
and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
As the fifth oldest orchestra in the United States, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has a legacy of fine music making as reflected in its performances in historic Music Hall, recordings, and international tours...
.
Biography
Born in Flushing, QueensFlushing, Queens
Flushing, founded in 1645, is a neighborhood in the north central part of the City of New York borough of Queens, east of Manhattan.Flushing was one of the first Dutch settlements on Long Island. Today, it is one of the largest and most diverse neighborhoods in New York City...
, Muñoz first studied music in the New York City Public School System
New York City Department of Education
The New York City Department of Education is the branch of municipal government in New York City that manages the city's public school system. It is the largest school system in the United States, with over 1.1 million students taught in more than 1,700 separate schools...
, where he took up violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
at the Louis Armstrong Middle School. He attended the Music Advancement Program at the Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
as a violin student of Hisako Resnick and later began composition studies with Amanda Harberg.
Muñoz attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts is a high school specializing in teaching visual arts and performing arts, located near Lincoln Center and the Juilliard School in the Lincoln Center district of Manhattan, on Amsterdam Avenue...
where he had his first public performance as a conductor, leading Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
's West Side Story
West Side Story
West Side Story is an American musical with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins...
. He performed in many ensembles during his high school years, including the InterSchool Orchestras of New York and the New York Youth Symphony
New York Youth Symphony
The New York Youth Symphony is a tuition-free music organization for youth in New York City. Its programs include its flagship symphony orchestra, Chamber Music program, Jazz Band Classic, Apprentice Conducting, and Making Score. Its members range from 12 to 22 years of age...
. He also attended the Manhattan School of Music
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...
Pre-College Division where he studied violin with Jonathan Strasser and composition with Alexander Yagupsky, and received the Richard Kimball Composition Award. During those summers, Muñoz attended the Kinhaven Music School and Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music
Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music
The Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music is located in Nelson, New Hampshire , housed in the buildings of an old horse farm on Apple Hill Road, on the eponymous hill...
.
In 1999, Muñoz attended the French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts
French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts
On a majestic hillside, high in the Catskill Mountain Region of New York less than three hours from New York City is French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts . A family run camp since 1970, French Woods has been the innovative leader of individualized programming for children...
and was given the opportunity to conduct several ensembles, as well as a fully staged Broadway musical production. He later returned to the Festival in 2001 and 2003 as faculty, where he taught violin and served as staff conductor.
Muñoz began undergraduate studies at the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College
Queens College, City University of New York
Queens College, located in Flushing, Queens, New York City, is one of the senior colleges of the City University of New York. It is also the fifth oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning. The college's seventy seven acre campus is located in the heart of the...
, as a violin student of Orion String Quartet
Orion String Quartet
The Orion String Quartet is a string quartet formed in 1987. It is the quartet-in-residence of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and New York's Mannes College of Music. The members are Todd and Daniel Phillips, brothers who alternate on first and second violin, violist Steven Tenenbom...
member Daniel Phillips. As a conductor, he organized many student performances, conducted the school's orchestras on several occasions, and collaborated with faculty in concerto performances.
In the summers of 2004-2006, Muñoz attended the Aspen Music Festival and School
Aspen Music Festival and School
The Aspen Music Festival and School, founded in 1949, is an internationally renowned classical music festival that presents music in an intimate, small-town setting...
as a student in the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen where he studied with David Zinman
David Zinman
David Zinman is an American conductor and violinist.After early violin studies at the Oberlin Conservatory, Zinman studied theory and composition at the University of Minnesota and took up conducting at Tanglewood...
and Murry Sidlin. He also participated in master class
Master class
A master class is a class given to students of a particular discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also painting, drama, or any of the arts....
es with many notable conductors including Asher Fisch, George Manahan, David Robertson
David Robertson (conductor)
David Eric Robertson is an American conductor. He is currently the music director of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, and Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.-Early life:...
, Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Edward Slatkin is an American conductor and composer.-Early life and education:Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His father Felix Slatkin was the violinist, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet,...
and Robert Spano
Robert Spano
Robert Spano is an American conductor and pianist. Since 2001 he has been Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra , and he served as Music Director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic from 1996 to 2004...
. He won the Festival's 2005 Robert J. Harth
Robert Harth
Robert Harth was Carnegie Hall's executive and artistic director. He had become the head of Carnegie Hall September 8, 2001 mere days before September 11, 2011. He died of a massive heart attack at home in his apartment in Carnegie Towers at the age of 47....
Conductor Prize and the 2006 Aspen Conducting Prize and was invited by Zinman to debut with The Cleveland Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1918, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Severance Hall...
at the Blossom Music Center
Blossom Music Center
Blossom Music Center is an amphitheatre located in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The pavilion seats 5,700 people, with space for about 13,500 more on the lawn. It is the summer home of the Cleveland Orchestra, which performs its annual Blossom Festival there. The venue is also host to a full summer...
in 2006. He was appointed Assistant Conductor of the festival for the summer of 2007.
After working with Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Edward Slatkin is an American conductor and composer.-Early life and education:Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His father Felix Slatkin was the violinist, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet,...
, Muñoz was accepted into Slatkin's National Conducting Institute in 2006 and subsequently made his National Symphony Orchestra debut conducting Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
's Billy the Kid
Billy the Kid (ballet)
Billy the Kid is a 1938 ballet written by the American composer Aaron Copland and commissioned by Lincoln Kirstein. It was choreographed by Eugene Loring for Ballet Caravan. Along with Rodeo and Appalachian Spring, it is one of Copland's most popular and widely performed pieces...
at the Kennedy Center
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center located on the Potomac River, adjacent to the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
In May 2006, at the age of 22, Muñoz was appointed Assistant Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
As the fifth oldest orchestra in the United States, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has a legacy of fine music making as reflected in its performances in historic Music Hall, recordings, and international tours...
by Paavo Järvi
Paavo Järvi
Paavo Järvi is an Estonian-American conductor, and current Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris.Järvi was born in Tallinn, Estonia, to conductor Neeme Järvi and Liilia Järvi. His siblings, Kristjan Järvi and Maarika Järvi, are also musicians...
. He made his debut with the orchestra in February 2007 conducting a family concert. That same month, he replaced an ill Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki , born November 23, 1933 in Dębica) is a Polish composer and conductor. His 1960 avant-garde Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for string orchestra brought him to international attention, and this success was followed by acclaim for his choral St. Luke Passion. Both these...
to make his critically acclaimed subscription debut, with violinist Chee-Yun
Kim Chee Yun
Kim Chee Yun is a South Korean female violinist from Seoul. Her professional name is "Chee-Yun". Chee-Yun performed in Korea at the age of 13. She studied at the Juilliard School with Dorothy DeLay, Hyo Kang, and Felix Galimir. She won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 1989...
as soloist. He made his Cincinnati Pops debut in March 2007, performing with the Celtic Tenors
Celtic Tenors
The Celtic Tenors began life as the Three Irish Tenors on RTE's Theatre Nights on October 1995. The group at that time consisted of James Nelson, Niall Morris and Paul Hennessey....
.
In April 2007, Muñoz was appointed Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra by Franz Welser-Möst
Franz Welser-Möst
Franz Welser-Möst is an Austrian conductor who is currently the music director for the Cleveland Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera.- Biography :...
. He made his European debut with the Orchestre Lyrique de Région Avignon-Provence in December 2007.
Muñoz made his operatic debut in January 2009 with the Opéra national de Lorraine
Opéra national de Lorraine
Opéra national de Lorraine is an opera company and opera house located in the city of Nancy in the French province of Lorraine. Formerly named the Opéra de Nancy et de Lorraine, it was given the status of "national opera" in 2006....
in a production of Manuel Caballero's Los Sobrinos del Capitan Grant. He also made his debut with the Opera's orchestra, l'Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy
Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy
Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy is a French symphony orchestra based in the city of Nancy in the province of Lorraine....
, that same month. In December 2010, Muñoz was appointed Music Director of both institutions.
Muñoz is managed exclusively by Opus 3 Artists
Opus 3 artists
Opus 3 Artists is an independent artists management firm with offices in New York City and Los Angeles, and represents several classical artists, as well as artists in the non-classical genres, such as jazz, world music, theater, dance, and special attractions. Formerly the classical music division...
.
External links
- Tito Muñoz official website
- Tito Muñoz artist page at Opus 3 ArtistsOpus 3 artistsOpus 3 Artists is an independent artists management firm with offices in New York City and Los Angeles, and represents several classical artists, as well as artists in the non-classical genres, such as jazz, world music, theater, dance, and special attractions. Formerly the classical music division...
- Tito Muñoz biography at The Cleveland Orchestra
- Opéra national de Lorraine website