Ruben Capriles, Music Director Emeritus

Ruben Capriles was Music Director of the Baltimore Philharmonia Orchestra for its 14th and 15th seasons, as well as the beginning of its 16th season.  Since his arrival in the United States in 2006 in order to pursue his graduate orchestral conducting studies at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, Capriles has developed a close relationship with the Baltimore musical community, not only as graduate conducting assistant of the Peabody Opera, the Peabody Symphony Orchestra and Peabody Concert Orchestra, but also as cover conductor for Maestra Marin Alsop at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Director of Orchestras at the Baltimore School for the Arts, and conducting Teacher Associate at the Peabody Preparatory, where Capriles successfully co-conducted the Peabody Youth Orchestra during their first East Cost Tour. Other recent responsibilities have included being the founding Music Director of the Young Musicians Program Youth Orchestra at the University of California, Berkeley, where Capriles worked in close collaboration with internationally renowned artist Frederica von Stade, as well as with prestigious members of the San Francisco Conservatory faculty.

Awarded with the 2010 Bruno Walter Conducting Fellowship as Assistant Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Academy, Capriles has had his conducting described by Marin Alsop as “passionate” and “intelligent.” Capriles has been finalist of the First Eduardo Mata International Conducting Competition, and of the Sixth Vakhtang Jordania International Conducting Competition. Capriles has been nominated for the Thelma A. Robinson Award of the Conductors Guild as best participant at the 2007 Carrillo Festival of Contemporary Music; has been recipient of the Mabelle Antionette Leonhardtsen del Mar Scholarship of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University; and has been awarded with the José Félix Ribas National Order from the Venezuelan government for his contributions to the arts.

Capriles graduated as the top conductor of his generation at the internationally renowned National Youth and Children Orchestra System of Venezuela (El Sistema), where he received his undergraduate education in Horn, Composition and Conducting. Capriles continued graduate studies in Conducting, Public Policy and Political Science at IESA, the Simón Bolívar University, the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and Columbia University. His primary conducting teachers have been Gustav Meier, José Antonio Abreu, Helmuth Rilling and Marin Alsop.