Fort Worth Symphony conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya joins TCU music faculty

Fort Worth, TX

3/5/2008

    Conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya, music director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra since 2000, will become Distinguished Guest Professor of Conducting in the TCU School of Music, effective immediately. The appointment was announced today by Dr. Richard Gipson, director of the School of Music at TCU, and Dr. Scott Sullivan, dean of the TCU College of Fine Arts.

Harth-Bedoya will work with students in TCU’s graduate and undergraduate conducting program, as well as the orchestral and chamber music studies programs, in addition to maintaining his regular schedule with FWSO and as a guest conductor for other orchestras, operas and music festivals worldwide.

“We are delighted that Miguel has agreed to join our university,” said Dr. Sullivan. “Our faculty and students will gain immensely from his extraordinary talent as a conductor and his knowledge and enthusiasm for Latin American music, an area of special focus in our School of Music.”

“We have been fortunate to have Maestro Harth-Bedoya work with our students before,” said Dr. Gipson, “but this arrangement will make it possible for even more of them to interact with and learn from him.  He is an extraordinary musician.”
   

About his new relationship with TCU, Harth-Bedoya stated, "I am so excited to be associated with a great institution like TCU.  I am very much looking forward to contributing to the conducting studies program in a more structured way."

A native of Peru, Harth-Bedoya received his bachelor’s degree in conducting from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and a master’s degree in conducting at The Juilliard School in New York City. Upon graduation, he took over as music director of the New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall, while also serving as staff conductor with the New York Philharmonic and a member of the conducting faculty at Juilliard.

By the time he moved to Fort Worth in 2000, Harth-Bedoya had co-founded a philharmonic orchestra and opera in Lima, Peru, and served as music director for both the Auckland Philharmonia in New Zealand and the Eugene Symphony in Oregon for several years. Since that time, his list of credits has expanded to include a full calendar of prestigious year-round engagements [visit www.miguelharth-bedoya.com].

Miguel Harth-Bedoya and his wife, Maritza, have three young children and make their home in Fort Worth.