Robert Treviño, chief conductor

"Treviño forms one symphonic organism that, with its delicate lines, its piercing nine-note chord blocks, venomous scherzos and waltzing dances of death, turns the whole span into the turning of a musical wheel of fortune… Very enthusiastic applause."  (Leipziger Volkszeitung, on Robert Treviño with the CBSO at the Mahler Festival Leipzig, 2023)

“One of the music world’s rising stars…Put him in front of an orchestra and he becomes a human dynamo.” (Gramophone, 2022)

“Startlingly excellent…Treviño maintains irresistible momentum, absorbing each detail into the general crescendo…he doesn’t skimp on the menace, but he and his musicians keep swinging to the end, dancing into darkness.” (Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 2022)

Robert Trevino has rapidly emerged as one of the most exciting American conductors performing today, as well as one of the most in-demand talents of the younger generation. He serves as the Music Director of the Basque National Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale Della RAI and Artistic Advisor of the Malmo Symphony Orchestra.

Most recently, he signed a multi-year recording contract with the leading classical label, Ondine, already resulting in the widely-praised release of a complete Beethoven Symphony Cycle with the Malmo Symphony Orchestra and, released in April 2021, a Ravel album with the Basque National Orchestra. The next albums to be released will be a selection of overlooked American masterpieces with the Basque National Orchestra, and works by Einojuhani Rautavaara (including some world premieres). His cycle of Bruch symphonies with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra was released by CPO in August 2020, to universally positive reviews.

Having won the James Conlon Conducting Prize at the Aspen Music Festival & School, and subsequently serving as Associate Conductor for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and New York City Opera, Trevino burst into the international spotlight at the Bolshoi Theater in December 2013, leading a new production of Verdi’s Don Carlo at short notice. The Russian press wrote, “There has not been an American success of this magnitude in Moscow since Van Cliburn.” He was subsequently nominated for a Golden Mask award for “Best Conductor in a New Production”. 

In recent seasons Trevino’s European engagements have included the London Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Tonhalle Zurich, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Vienna Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic and Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin among many others. He has conducted the Cleveland Orchestra, the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Toronto and Detroit and led Washington National Opera’s new production of Evgeny Onegin .

In the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons Robert led the Basque National Orchestra, the Malmo Symphony Orchestra and the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra on European tours and made debut conducting appearances with Orchestre de Paris and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. His reengagements included the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Sao Paulo Symphony, Vienna Symphony, Bamberg Symphony, SWR Symphony, and RAI National Symphony Orchestra.

Upcoming debut appearances include the Baltimore Symphony, Utah Symphony, Grosses Festspielhaus Salzburg, La Scala Philharmonic, Orchestra della Svizzeria Italiana, Orchestre National de Toulouse, Gurzenich Orchestra Koln, Gulbenkian Orchestra and Osaka Philharmonic. Forthcoming Return visits include the Basque National Orchestra, Malmo Symphony, and MDR Symphony Leipzig, Sinfonia Varsovia among others. Trevino was Chief Conductor of the Malmo Symphony but announced in 2021 that he would become the MSO’s Artistic Advisor for a term of two years. At the same time he announced that he would take up the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, for an initial term of three years.

Robert Trevino has commissioned, premiered and worked closely with many leading composers, among them John Adams, Philip Glass, Sofia Gubaidulina, Jennifer Higdon, Andre Previn, Augusta Read Thomas, Shulamit Ran and John Zorn. His many education projects include, recently, a residency at the Royal Academy of Music.