About me
Born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, Gabriel completed postgraduate studies at the Louisiana State University (USA), obtaining a DMA, Doctor in Musical Arts in Cello Performance and Orchestra Conducting (2002), and an MM, Master in Music in Cello Performance (1996,) with Professors Dennis Parker (Cello) and Michael Butterman (Conducting). Previously, he studied at the Conservatorio Superior de Córdoba and the Conservatorio Superior de Granada, both in Spain.
As a conductor, Gabriel has perfected his conducting skills attending workshops with the maestros James Paul (USA), Arturo Tamayo (Spain), Jesús López Cobos (Spain), Manuel Hernández Silva (Spain) and Colin Metters (Germany). It is worth mentioning that Delgado was a finalist in the conducting competitions of the Joven Orquesta Nacional de España (JONDE 2000), and the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada (2005).
In the professional sphere, as guest conductor, he has performed with the Louisiana State University Symphony Orchestra (USA), the Philharmonic Orchestra of the State Theatre of Cottbus (Germany), and the Spanish Mad4strings Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica de la Región de Murcia, the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, the Orquesta de Extremadura and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Málaga among others. Gabriel has toured China (2013/2014), France (2007 and 2010), Italy (2012) and North Africa (2010). Since 2008, he has been regularly invited to the FEX-Granada International Music and Dance Festival.
His recordings include: José Nieto-75 aniversario, with the Joven Orquesta Sinfónica de Granada and the Orquesta Universidad de Granada (CD-SAIMEL 2017); Dreams of a Traveler, ballet by José Nieto, premiered with great success at Bahrain in 2018 with the Mad4strings Orchestra; Concierto de La Herradura by the Cuban-Spanish composer Eduardo Morales Caso, live recording of the premiere featuring Mª Esther Guzmán as solo guitar and the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada (CD-VERSO 2013); Escenas contemporáneas, a collection of recent compositions by J. González Granero, V. Miserachs and N. García-Carril with the Proemium Metals Quintet and the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada (CD-AMBAR 2015); 125 aniversario de Francisco Alonso (1887-1948), an acclaimed live recording of the special gala dedicated to the Spanish zarzuela composer Francisco Alonso (CD-JOSG 2012) with the Joven Orquesta Sinfónica de Granada.
Gabriel not only has extensive experience programming and conducting symphonic concerts but also opera, pops, ballet, and educational concerts. Remarkable engagements include his debut at the Auditorio Nacional de Madrid presenting choral-symphonic music by W.A. Mozart (OUGR, 2015); Concert at the Palau de la Música de Valencia (JOSG-Orquesta de Godella, 2015); Concert at the Auditorio de Zaragoza (OUGR-JOSG, 2016) and the original productions featuring music by Manuel de Falla of El amor brujo, 1915 (theatre and dance), El retablo de Maese Pedro and El corregidor y la molinera (both with audio-visual support) the latter three made possible by the sponsorship of the Granada University in collaboration with the Manuel de Falla Archive.
Equally successful were the collaborations with the theatre company La Fura dels Baus in the performance of Carmina Burana by Carl Orff at the Festival Internacional de Música y Danza de Úbeda (2016), and with the award-winning puppet company Etcétera in the performances of Peter and the wolf by S. Prokofiev (2017) and The story of the little tailor by T. Harsányi (2017). Finally, it is worth mentioning the successful production of the opera L’Elisir d’amore by G. Donizetti, as part of an important commitment of the University of Granada to musical training related to the lyric genre (OUGR, 2019).
As a cellist, he has worked with several professional orchestras such as the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra (USA), and the Spanish Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, the Orquesta Filarmónica de Málaga and the Orquesta de Córdoba. He has given cello and chamber music recitals in Spain, the USA and in Finland, within the Comenius International Exchange Programme.
Driven by his passion for education, Delgado has been in charge of several Spanish music school orchestras such as those of the Conservatorio Profesional de Música “Francisco Guerrero” in Seville, the Conservatorio Profesional de Música “Ángel Barrios” and the Conservatorio Superior de Música “Victoria Eugenia”, both in Granada. Furthermore, during the thirteen years between 2005 and 2018, he has been the principal conductor and Artistic Director of the Joven Orquesta Sinfónica de Granada, with which he has developed outstanding educational and dissemination work on symphonic music.
To further elaborate on his pedagogical facet, it should be noted that between 2011 and 2019 Gabriel taught cello and orchestra at the Da Capo summer courses in Víznar (Granada) 2011-2019, and also offered, during four editions (2013-2016), the Orchestral Conducting Course of the Joven Orquesta Sinfónica de Granada. Likewise, Gabriel was professor of the first edition of the Master in Orchestral Performance offered by the Academy of Orchestral Studies of the Baremboim-Said Foundation/University of Seville. Similarly, between 2013-2016, Gabriel was the Orchestra Professor and Conductor of the Manuel de Falla International Courses Orchestra, a prestigious music workshop held yearly as part of the Granada International Music and Dance Festival. Moreover, Delgado has supported young conductors by teaching a conducting workshop hosted yearly by the Joven Orquesta Sinfónica de Granada.
In 1999 Delgado was appointed Cello Professor in Andalusia, and since 2017 holds a full-professor tenure of Cello at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música “Victoria Eugenia” in Granada (Spain). Gabriel is also the current principal conductor of the Orquesta de la Universidad de Granada, post he holds since its creation in 2007.
