🌈 Norman Gamboa, Guest Conductor
🌈 Samuel Barber - Essay No.1
🌈 Kyle Kindred - Flute Concerto
- Linda Watkins, Principal Flute Bay Area Rainbow Symphony
🌈 Manuel de Falla - Three Cornered Hat ballet
🌈Part of BARS LGBTQ Composer and Performing Artist Series
Music Director of the Sonoma County Philharmonic, Norman Gamboa is also Music Director of the Aurora Symphony Orchestra in Colorado. Gamboa is considered one of the most prominent up-and-coming Central American conductors. His numerous guest conducting appearances have included symphony orchestras throughout Louisiana, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Wyoming, Minnesota, California, and Nevada.
Worldwide engagements include the Orchestra Filarmonica di Stato Ploieşti in Romania, Západočeský Symfonický Orchestr in the Czech Republic, Youth Orchestra of Europe, Orquesta Filarmónica de Medellín in Colombia, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo and Orquestra Orquestra Sinfônica de Ribeirão Preto in Brazil, Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado Mérida and Orquesta Sinfónica de Los Llanos in Venezuela, Orquesta Sinfónica Municipal de Cartago, UCR Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil of Costa Rica, and the national symphony orchestras of Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, and Honduras, to name a few.
A versatile conductor, equally at home with opera, ballet, chamber and symphonic orchestral repertoire, Norman Gamboa has conducted a large variety of innovative joint ventures, including newly choreographed productions of Ravel's Ma mère l'Oye with Ballet Midwest, The Nutcracker Ballet with the Santa Rosa Dance Theater and the Aurora Dance Arts, La Fiesta Mexicana by Owen-Reed with Fiesta Colorado Dance Company, as well as several successful fully-staged operas with the Topeka Opera Society and Opera on Tap Colorado. Festival appearances include Plzeň 2015 (Czech Republic), FOSJA-Casals Festival of Puerto Rico, Central American Festival of Chamber Music, International Music Festival of Medellín (Colombia), Villarrica Music Festival (Chile), FIA International Festival of Arts of Costa Rica, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Bregenzer Festspiele (Austria), the Las Vegas Music Festival, OSESP-International Orchestra Conductors Competition, ITEC-Regina Music Conference in Canada, as well as the New York Brass Conference.
Norman enjoys collaborating with and championing the works of modern composers, including world-premieres by Kyle Kindred, Evelyn Stroobach, Jonathan Peters, Frank La Rocca, Robert Bradshaw, as well as renowned composers from Latin America such as Rafael Junchaya, Benjamín Gutiérrez, Lucas Galon, Carlos Escalante, and Eddie Mora.
Previously, he served as Music Director of the Powder River Symphony in Wyoming, Director of Orchestral Studies at Washburn University, Associate Conductor of the Las Vegas Music Festival, Cover Conductor for the Topeka Symphony Orchestra, Assistant Conductor of the Waco Symphony and Music Director of the Waco Symphony Youth Orchestra. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Baylor University, a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from the University of Nevada and a doctorate degree in conducting from Louisiana State University. Norman Gamboa was born in Costa Rica and now makes his home in Denver, Colorado.