Born in Venezuela in 1993, Ilyich Rivas comes from a distinguished musical family. His father Alejandro Rivas was for a number of seasons, the Music Director of the Metropolitan State Symphony Orchestra (Denver). From the time Ilyich Rivas was a very young boy, it was clear he had a natural talent for conducting and began studying with his father who continues to be his principal guide and mentor to this day.

In 2009, Ilyich Rivas was selected as one of seven young conductors from around the world to participate in the prestigious Cabrillo Festival Conductors Workshop in California, where he made a significant impression on both Marin Alsop and Gustav Meier. After an audition in front of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO), he was awarded the position of Baltimore Symphony Orchestra/Peabody Institute Conducting Fellow. This two-year position enabled Rivas to study conducting at the Peabody Conservatory under Meier's guidance and to work closely with Marin Alsop and the BSO. In the summer of 2009, Ilyich Rivas spent an extensive period of time in Europe at the invitation of Glyndebourne Opera, where he observed rehearsals and performances mentored primarily by Vladimir Jurowski and then attended the first Verbier Festival Conducting Academy.

In the 2009/10 season, Ilyich Rivas made his professional debut in the US conducting the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in a summer festival concert and made a hugely impressive debut with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. In the 2010/11 season, Ilyich Rivas was again invited by Glyndebourne Opera to continue the mentoring programme and he returned to Verbier to make a significant debut conducting the Festival Orchestra in a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 as well as a semi-staged performance of La Bohème. Following this success, Ilyich Rivas won the Prix Julius Baer, a prize which is awarded by the Verbier Festival to a musician of exceptional talent. He also made successful debuts with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, and travelled to Australia at the invitation of Michael Tilson Thomas to conduct the YouTube Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House. In 2011, he made his Royal Festival Hall debut with Lang Lang and the Youth Orchestra of Bahia and conducted the Youth Orchestra of the Americas on tour throughout Central America.

Following his successful operatic debut in 2012 conducting Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro for Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Ilyich returns in the Autumn 2013 to conduct Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel. He has also commenced his position as Assistant Conductor to the London Philharmonic Orchestra where he is currently working under Vladimir Jurowski’s leadership on the season’s subscription concerts. In the 2013/14 season, he will make his official Royal Festival Hall debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Recent engagements/debuts have included the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Stockholm Philharmonic, the Swedish Radio Symphony, the Euskadi Orchestra (Spain), the Stuttgart Radio Symphony and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestras.

Season 2012/13 - Contact: Nicholas Mathias / Nina Apollonov, IMG Artists
Tel: +44 (0)20 7957 5855 – Fax: + 44 (0)20 7957 5801 – Email: nmathias@imgartists.com