Germán Augusto Gutiérrez

G.Gutierrez@tcu.edu
817-257-7654
Texas Christian University
TCU Box 297500
Fort Worth, TX 76129

Biography

Germán Augusto Gutiérrez has served as Director of Orchestras and Associate Professor of Orchestral Studies at Fort Worth's Texas Christian University (TCU) as well as Director of TCU's Latin American Music Center and biennial Latin American Music Festival since 1996. Since 2000, Maestro Gutiérrez has also served as Music Director of the Youth Orchestra of Greater Fort Worth (YOGFW).

Maestro Gutiérrez is a frequent guest conductor of professional orchestras in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania. The 2008 season includes invitations to conduct the Hong Kong City Chamber Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta de la Academia del Gran Teatre del Liceu de Barcelona, and the national symphonies of Peru, Costa Rica and Colombia. In 2007, he returned for an unprecedented eleventh year as guest conductor of the Dallas Symphony's Hispanic Festival. In 2006, he was invited to conduct the Czech National Symphony in historic Smetana Hall as part of the 110th anniversary of Carl Orff's birth, where he led the orchestra in a performance of Carmina Burana. Maestro Gutiérrez has also appeared with the Fort Worth Symphony, Auckland Philharmonic (New Zealand), Bogotá Philharmonic, Puerto Rico National Symphony, Sinfónica del Teatro Municipal de Rio de Janeiro, and Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra (Brazil), among others. He also makes regular appearances with orchestras in his native Colombia, including the Medellín Philharmonic, Sinfónica del Valle, and Sinfónica de Barranquilla. In 2002, Maestro Gutiérrez was invited to the Trentino region of Italy to conduct Rossini's Barber of Seville for the 30th anniversary of the Pergine Spettacolo Aperto.

Under his baton, the TCU Symphony and the YOGFW have achieved exceptional levels of recognition in Fort Worth and abroad. Both groups have traveled on numerous international tours, obtaining enthusiastic reviews, including repeat invitations to engagements such as the Iberoamerican Music Festival in Puerto Rico, where the TCU Symphony was the featured orchestra in 2005 and 2007, and the Texas Music Educators Association Convention in San Antonio, where the TCU Symphony was selected to perform in 2006. With the TCU Symphony, Maestro Gutiérrez has also conducted the world premieres of more than twelve contemporary works. In 2004, Maestro Gutiérrez led the YOGFW on a tour of Europe, including performances in Prague, at the Mozarteum (Salzburg) and at Esterházy Palace (Eisenstadt, Austria).

Maestro Gutiérrez holds Músico Bachiller and Maestro en Música degrees from the Tolima Conservatory in Colombia. He also received a master's degree from Illinois State University and a doctoral degree from the University of Northern Colorado. For his involvement and dedication to TCU, Maestro Gutiérrez received the Dean's Teaching Award, the Dean's Award for Research and Creative Activity, and the 2003 Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Research and Creative Activity, the highest award that the university bestows.