Roberto González Monjas & Musikkollegium Winterthur
Biographie Roberto González Monjas & Musikkollegium Winterthur
Roberto Gonzalez Monjas
Highly sought-after as a conductor and violinist, Roberto González-Monjas is rapidly making a mark on the international scene. A natural musical leader with strong vision and clarity, Roberto possess a unique mixture of remarkable personal charisma, an abundance of energy, enthusiasm and fierce intelligence. Roberto is currently designate Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of Dalasinfoniettan where his tenure commences in 19/20 season.
Roberto’s eclectic concert diary includes regular conducting, play-directing and engagements as a soloist with orchestras such as the Musikkollegium Winterthur, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de l’Opera National de Bordeaux Aquitaine, New World Symphony in Miami and Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra. Passionate about chamber music collaborations, Roberto is a regular guest at Verbier and Lockenhaus Festivals. He frequently collaborates with singers and instrumentalists including Ian Bostridge, Yuja Wang, Janine Jansen, Alexander Lonquich, Lisa Batiashvili, Fazil Say, Reinhard Goebel, Thomas Quasthoff, András Schiff and Kit Armstrong.
Most recently Roberto undertook a variety of conducting, play-direct and chamber music projects with the Musikkollegium Winterthur including a tour of Asia with the clarinettist Andreas Ottensamer. As a passionate champion of the music of living composers, Roberto’s close association with composer Richard Dubugnon has resulted in a new Violin Concerto, which Roberto premiered in May 2018 with the Musikkollegium Winterthur.
Future significant guest conducting debuts include collaborations with Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Ulster Orchestra, Les Musiciens du Louvre, RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, MÁV Symphony Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic, Macedonian Philharmonic and re-invitations to Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Orquesta Joven de la Sinfónica de Galicia. Across ‘18/’19 & ‘19/’20 seasons, Roberto serves as the Principal Guest Artist with Orquesta Sinfonica de Castilla y Leon in his hometown Valladolid. In this capacity, Roberto will conduct the orchestra both in their subscription series in Valladolid and in concerts across the Castilla y León region. Furthermore, Roberto will perform as a soloist, lead chamber music projects and take part in educational activities.
Passionate and dedicated to education and nurturing potential of emerging musicians, Roberto co-founded Iberacademy (Ibero-American Orchestral Academy) together with conductor Alejandro Posada. This institution aims at creating an efficient and sustainable model of musical education in Latin America, focusing on vulnerable segments of the population and supporting highly talented young musicians; while based in Medellín (Colombia), it also operates in Bolivia, Perú, Chile and Cuba, providing its students with life-changing opportunities. Most recently Roberto embarked on a European tour with the Iberacademy Orchestra and star tenor Rolando Villazón, with concerts at the Lucerne Easter Festival and the Mozarteum Stiftung in Salzburg. Roberto also serves as a violin professor at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and undertakes a number of conducting projects with the Guildhall School Chamber and Symphony Orchestras.
With an impressively eclectic and wide-ranging repertoire, Roberto’s variety of styles and interests is also displayed in his recent recording debut featuring Serenades by W. A. Mozart and Othmar Schoeck, released on Claves Records. Gramophone reviewers wrote: In all its 64 minutes’ worth of music, saved from outstaying its welcome by Mozart’s ever-questing ear for an effect, among the most piquant perhaps being the pizzicato passage towards the end of the Andante. It’s played admirably here, under the direction of the well-traveled Roberto González-Monjas. Roberto also contributed as a soloist to Sony Classical’s release of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti with the Berlin Baroque Soloists and Reinhard Goebel.
Roberto González-Monjas is currently the leader of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Musikkollegium Winterthur. He plays a 1710 Giuseppe Guarnieri ‘filius Andreae’ violin kindly loaned to him by five Winterthur families and the Rychenberg Stiftung.
