Juanjo Mena began his conducting career in his native Spain as Artistic Director of the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra in 1999. His uncommon talent was soon recognized internationally with appointments as Principal Guest Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic and Chief Guest Conductor of the Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa. In 2011, he was named Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, which he led for seven seasons, taking the orchestra on tours of Europe and Asia and conducting annual televised concerts at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms. He currently holds the position of Principal Conductor of the Cincinnati May Festival, the longest running choral festival in North America, served by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
A sought-after guest conductor, Juanjo Mena has led Europe’s top ensembles and also appears regularly with all the major orchestras in his native Spain. Following his North American debut with the Baltimore Symphony in 2004, he has conducted most of the continent’s leading orchestras. In Asia, he is a regular guest conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo.
Juanjo Mena opened the 2022–23 season with a Carnegie Hall gala concert, leading the Teatro Real Orchestra (the Royal Opera of Madrid) in its historic Carnegie Hall debut. The concert follows Mena’s recent triumphant performances at Madrid’s Teatro Real, with Arthur Honegger’s Joan of Arc at the Stake paired with Debussy’s La damoiselle élue staged in June 2022. Other guest performances this season include his debut with the Dallas Symphony and the Czech Philharmonic and returns to the Minnesota Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony, Lucerne Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, Danish National Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic and the Spanish National Orchestra. May 2023 marks Juanjo Mena’s final performances as Principal Conductor of the May Festival, concluding his pivotal six-year tenure at the organization, during which he has expanded commissioning of new works and put the community at the heart of the Festival. The Cincinnati May Festival’s 150th Anniversary program will culminate with Mena leading Mahler’s Eighth Symphony.
Juanjo Mena’s operatic work includes Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman; Richard Strauss’ Salome, Elektra and Ariadne auf Naxos; Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle; and Schoenberg’s Erwartung, as well as productions of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin in Genoa, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in Lausanne, and Beethoven’s Fidelio and Britten’s Billy Budd in Bilbao.
His latest release, of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6 with the BBC Philharmonic on Chandos, has been described by The Classical Review as “intensely musical,” “impressive” and with a “spectacular sound.” Mena’s rich discography with the BBC Philharmonic on Chandos also includes an acclaimed Gabriel Pierné release selected as a Gramophone Editor’s Choice, Weber symphonies, Ginastera’s orchestral works to mark the composer’s centenary, and new reference recordings of lesser-performed Spanish repertoire including Arriaga’s orchestral pieces, works by Albéniz, Montsalvatge and Turina, as well as three discs of works by Manuel de Falla featuring his opera La vida breve. In 2012, Juanjo Mena recorded Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie with the Bergen Philharmonic for the Hyperion label, a disc said to “utterly redefine the terms under which past/current/future Turangalîlas need to be judged” (Gramophone).
Juanjo Mena studied conducting with Sergiu Celibidache following his musical education at the Madrid Royal Conservatory, where he was mentored by Carmelo Bernaola and Enrique García Asensio. In 2016, he was awarded the Spanish National Music Award. He lives with his family in his native Basque Country.
Photo credit: Michael Novak