Maestro Profile

A recipient of countless distinctions, Maestro Hector Guzman serves as Music Director of the Irving Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Guzman also serves as Music Director/Conductor for 3 other symphonies and also guest conducts widely both nationally and internationally.

Mr. Guzman’s conducting talents became evident at age 17 when he conducted a memorial performance of the Mozart Requiem at The National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City. Maestro Guzman holds degrees from the Conservatory in Mexico City, the University of North Texas and Southern Methodist University. Mr. Guzman has studied with many illustrious teachers including Anshel Brusilow, Helmuth Rilling, and Carlo Maria Guilini at the Academia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy. For several years he was a protégé of the late Eduardo Mata, Conductor Emeritus of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

As a guest-conductor, Maestro Guzman has appeared to critical acclaim with many distinguished symphonies, including the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, the Japan Philharmonic, the Collegium Orchestra of Prague, the Monterrey Symphony, the State of Mexico Symphony, the Bellas Artes Chamber Orchestra, the Vivaldi Orchestra of Mexico City, the National Symphony of Mexico, the Mexico City Philharmonic, the National Symphony of the Dominican Republic, the Sinfonica de Murcia in Spain, the Milano Classica Orchestra, the Symphonium Orchestra Venetto, the Amadeus Orchestra and the Bari Symphony in Italy. He has also appeared as recitalist and soloist at prestigious venues such as Meyerson Symphony Hall in Dallas, Spivey Hall in Atlanta and the cathedrals of Mexico, Morelia, Guadalajara and Chartres among others.

Maestro Guzman has been honored with the Outstanding National Young Artist Award from the government of Mexico, the Golden Lyre award, and the Meadows Award in Conducting. In 2000, he was included in the “Outstanding Musicians of the 20th Century” by the International Biographical Center in Cambridge, England. In 2004, Maestro Guzman was declared winner of the “Seven Conductors…one Baton” international conducting competition. He is the recipient of the “Silver Good Citizenship Medal” from the Sons of the American Revolution as well as the 2005 “Artistic Merit Gold Medal” given by the government of the State of Mexico and the 2006 “Artistic Silver Medal” awarded by his native state, Zacatecas. In 2008, Hector Guzman was the recipient of the Mozart Medal, Mexico’s highest musical honor, awarded by the Mozart Academy and the Embassy of Austria in Mexico City.