Ilyich Rivas

Ilyich Rivas (born June 6, 1993) is a Venezuelan-American conductor, comes from a distinguished musical family. From a very early age he studied conducting with his father Alejandro Rivas (Born 1967), an orchestral conductor himself, who continues to be his principal guide and mentor today.
He started studying with his father when he was just six years of age. After an audition in 2009, he was awarded the position of Assistant Conductor in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
This two-year position enabled Rivas to study conducting at the Peabody Conservatory under Gustav Meier’s guidance and to work closely with Marin Alsop and the BS.
In 2011 he was a special guest of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra and conducted for a few moments.
Ilyich has been awarded the Bruno Walter Conducting Prize in the U.S. and the Prix Julius Baer in Switzerland, given by the Verbier Festival to a musician of exceptional talent.
In 2009 after an audition in front of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO), Ilyich was awarded the position of Baltimore Symphony Orchestra/Peabody Institute Conducting fellow.
During the 2012/2013 season, Ilyich Rivas worked as assistant Conductor with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom he made a highly impressive official debut at the Royal Festival Hall in March 25, 2015.
In the 2015/16 season he will make his debut with the Gothenburg Symphony, Orchestre National de Lyon, the Saarbrucken Radio Philharmonic,
as well as return visits to the Swedish Radio Symphony, Stuttgart Radio Symphony, and Suisse Romande Orchestra.