Diego Martin-Etxebarria is one of the most outstanding Spanish musical directors of his generation. His ambitious professional and artistic profile is defined by his multifaceted career that regularly combines opera, symphonic repertoire and ballet from the Baroque period to world premieres. Martin-Etxebarria first came to international attention when he was awarded First Prize, the Hideo Saito Award and the Asahi Award at the Tokyo Conducting Competition in 2015. He has been Principal Resident Conductor at the Chemnitz Opera House since 2020 after serving as Principal Resident Conductor and Deputy Music Director of the Opera Houses in Krefeld and Mönchengladbach from 2016 to 2020.

 

Maestro Etxebarria has been invited by international orchestras such as the Osaka Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Nagoya Philharmonic, Kansai Philharmonic, Osaka Symphony, Central Aichi Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg, Philharmonische Orchester Heidelberg or the St. Petersburg State Capella Symphony. In his homeland he has conducted the Spanish National Orchestra, the Spanish Radio and Television Symphony, Bilbao Symphony, Euskadi Symphony, Galicia Symphony, Galicia Philharmonic, Barcelona Symphony, Tenerife Symphony, the City of Granada Orchestra, Málaga Philharmonic, Oviedo Philharmonia as well as the Vallès Symphony.

 

In the operatic field, he has conducted Paul-Heinz Dittrich's Die Verwandlung and Die Blinden at the Berliner Staatsoper; Puccini's La Bohème at the Theater Augsburg; Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Verdi's Aida, Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Janacek's Das schlaue Füchslein, Léhar's Die lustige Witwe, Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, Zimmermann's Der Schuhu und die fliegende Prinzessin at the Theater Chemnitz; Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges at the Theater Heidelberg; Donizetti's Don Pasquale in Terrassa; Donizetti's Rita at the Volksbühne in Berlin; Donizetti's L'Elisir d'amore in Teatre Principal de Palma, Vigo, Ourense and Pontevedra; Montsalvatge's Puss in boots at the Teatro Real in Madrid; Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Kleines Haus Dresden; Bizet's Carmen at the Santa Florentina Festival, Adés' Powder Her Face at the Arriaga Theater in Bilbao; Llorca's Tres sombreros de Copa at the Teatro La Zarzuela (Madrid) Tempesta Esvaïda at the Fortuny Theatre in Reus; Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, Menotti's The Consul, Verdi's Nabucco, Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, Offenbach's Orphee aux Enfers, Kálmán's Die Faschingsfee and Dvorak's Rusalka, at the Opera Houses in Krefeld and Mönchengladbach.

 

He has recently recorded an album for SONY with music by Albert Guinovart conducting the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra as well as Udo Zimmermann's opera Der Schuhu und die fliegende Prinzessin for Deutschlandfunk. Previous recordings include the CD Intimitats with award-winning music by composer Marc Timón, the lyric comedy La Viola d'Or by Enric Morera (Enderrock Award for Best Classical Album Review 2016), the DVD Sinfokids 2 at the head of the Euskadi Symphony Orchestra and the short opera by Joaquim Serra Tempesta esvaïda conducting the Camera Musicae Orchestra.

 

Martin-Etxebarria began his musical studies at the Conservatories of Amurrio and Vitoria and graduated in orchestra conducting at the University of Music of Catalonia. He was granted by the Humboldt Foundation and the DAAD-La Caixa for post-graduate studies in opera conducting at the Hochschulen in Weimar, Dresden and the Academia Chigiana in Siena with Gianluigi Gelmetti. Other conductors who have influenced his career include Riccardo Frizza, Donato Renzetti, Dima Slobodeniouk, Christopher Seaman, Jesús Lopez Cobos, Titus Engel and Lutz Köhler.

Updated October 2023