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A recipient of countless distinctions, Maestro Hector Guzman has been Music Director of the Plano Symphony Orchestra since 1983, Music Director of the Irving Symphony since 1991, and most recently, Music Director of San Angelo Symphony. Born in Fresnillo, Mexico in 1956, he began his musical training at a very early age under the supervision of his beloved father.
While a student in Mexico, Hector Guzman achieved an impressive reputation as an organist by taking first prize in the Chamber Soloist and the Manuel M. Ponce National Organ Competitions. In the United States, he earned further distinction by winning solo competitions at the University of North Texas and Southern Methodist University. In 1978 he gained world acclaim when he became the first Latin-American ever chosen as a finalist in one of the most prestigious international organ competitions: France’s Grand Prix de Chartres.
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, UNT and SMU. Mr. Guzman has studied with many illustrious Maestri including his mentor, 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.
In demand internationally as a conductor and recitalist, Maestro Guzman was awarded the Outstanding National Young Artist Award from the government of Mexico, the Golden Lyre award, and the Meadows Award in Conducting. In 1995, he received the DeVry Institute’s “Director par Excellence” Award for his outstanding contributions to the arts, and in 2000, he was included in the “Outstanding Musicians of the 20th Century” by the International Biographical Center in Cambridge, England. Mr. Guzman appears regularly in Mexico with the Monterrey Symphony, UNAM Philharmonic, Xalapa Symphony, Philharmonic Society Symphony, Bellas Artes Chamber Orchestra and the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra. He has been a frequent guest conductor of the San Antonio Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, and the National Symphony of the Dominican Republic. He made his European debut in 1997 with The Collegium Orchestra of Prague in the Czech Republic, and his debut with the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and Violinist Motoi Takeda in 1999 was considered one of the “top ten concerts of the year” by Japanese Press. He returned to Japan in May 2001 for a series of concerts with the same orchestra.
Maestro Guzman became a U.S. citizen in October, 2001 and makes his home in Plano with his wife Daisy and their children, Francisco and Sofia.
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