Florida Grand Opera's Ramon Tebar to Go Abroad for His Upcoming Spring/Summer Engagements

An internationally sought-after conductor, Florida Grand Opera Music Director Ramon Tebar's engagements take him abroad beginning this month. Following a concert with the Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona with soloistssoprano Angela Gheorghiu and tenor Saimir Pirgu in Barcelona, Spain, last week, upcoming international engagements includeCarmen with Brazil's Theatro Muncipal de Sao Paulo and a soon to be announced production with Spain's Festival de Opera de A Coruna. Nationally, he can be heard conducting Madama Butterfly with Cincinnati Opera. In May, with his company, Florida Grand Opera in Miami, he closes the 2013-14 season with a six-performance production of Thais.

A musician who is particularly renowned for his expertise with operatic repertoire, Tebar marks his third season as Music Director with Florida Grand Opera this season, having served in the position since 2011, following a year as guest conductor. In an unprecedented action, Maestro Tebar has contributed his conducting fees for Florida Grand Opera's production of Thais.He made the decision to make the substantial donation in recognition of the commitment the musicians of the Florida Grand Opera have demonstrated, the high artistic levels the company produces, and also in light of the importance of the financial challenges that all arts organizations are facing across the country.

"It is an incredible pleasure and joy to work with the wonderful musicians of the orchestra of Florida Grand Opera. After only three seasons of making music together, we have achieved an extraordinary musical level, not only nationally praised by the press, but also by our public who enthusiastically shows its love to this orchestra and has recognized the quality of our performances together.

"The arts are an essential part of our culture and heritage, and it is important that we all do our part to ensure their continued success and growth." stated Maestro Tebar.

The first Spanish conductor to be appointed Music Director of an American opera company, Maestro Tebar's additional posts include his recent appointment this past January 2014 as Music Director of the biannual Santo Domingo Festival (Dominican Republic), and his continuing collaboration with the Palm Beach Symphony, where he has served as Music Director since 2010.

Tebar's guesting engagements include leading operatic repertoire for such distinguished organizations as Italy's Teatro Regio di Torino, Martina Franca Festival, and Teatro Lirico di Cagliari; Spain's Festival de Opera de a Coruna; Germany's Kolner Philharmonie; Russia's Kremlin Palace; Netherlands's Het Concertgebouw and Argentina's Teatro Colon. Among his orchestral guesting engagements are Orquesta Sinfonica Ciudad de Oviedo and Orquesta de Radio Television Espanola in Spain; St. Petersburg Symphony and Moscow State Symphony Orchestra in Russia; Orchestra de Rouen Haute-Normandie in France; Het Gelders Orkest in the Netherlands; Orchestra Teatro Regio di Torino and the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Italy, to name a few. Included amongst the acclaimed artists with whom he has worked are Roberto Alagna, Joshua Bell, Montserrat Caballe, Joseph Calleja, Gautier Capucon, Placido Domingo, Angela Gheorghiu, Maria Guleghina, Ben Heppner and Renata Scotto.

Born in Valencia, Spain, Ramon Tebar began working as a pianist and Assistant Conductor in his home town at the age of fifteen. Later he started to conduct his first symphonic concerts (and made his operatic debut soon after with Don Pasquale). He was Assistant Conductor with the Youth National Orchestra of Spain (Joven Orquesta Nacional de Espana, JONDE), and in the meantime, he graduated with honors in his hometown Conservatory: Special Honor Awards in Piano and Chamber Music Degrees; the Barenreiter Prize; Special Prize in the Musical Youth of Spain Competition; Medaille d´Honneur "Villa de Claira" (France) and an Award at the III International Conducting Competition "Luigi Mancinelli" (Italy). Since his arrival in the US in 2005, he has been part of the musical staff of Palm Beach Opera and Cincinnati Opera, working in around 40 opera productions, while maintaining a full schedule in Europe. Maestro Tebar has been honored twice with the Henry C. Clark Conductor of the Year Award by Florida Grand Opera (2010, 2013). He was recently featured by the Miami Herald as "Top 20 under 40", by the Spanish journal ABC among "Ten International Spanish Conductors" and by Marca Espana among the most successful international Spanish talents in "100 espanoles".

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