Julio Reyes

Julio Reyes started his musical training on the classical guitar at the age of five, by the time he was 18, he had learned to play the cello, and electric bass, and was appointed Assistant Conductor to a young Kent Nagano for the Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra. His guitar recital debut was at the age of 12. Reyes placed 4^th in an International Agustin Barrios Competition in Mexico City at the age of 13 and gave a 3-week concert tour of Paraguay the following year. He performed Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez” with Calvin Simmons and the Oakland Symphony Orchestra as a senior in High School.

Since then, Reyes has conducted youth and adult orchestras in the US, Europe, South America, and Cuba. He conducted Prince Albert of Monaco’s private orchestra in the opera, “Fay Yen Fah” at the Monaco Opera in 2010. Reyes made his Carnegie Hall debut as a winner in the “Progressive Musicians” competition in February of 2022 and has been asked by the directors of the competition to conduct a 20-piece guitar orchestra on July 1, 2024, once again in Carnegie Hall. He has been an educator for many years and has given lectures and masterclasses on the life and music of Agustin Barrios at various conservatories of music, colleges, and guitar societies in the US, South America, and Canada.

In September of 2023, Reyes was appointed conductor of the Santa Rosa Symphony Aspirante Youth Orchestra and will be a teaching artist in music education’s “Simply Strings” program.

Photo by Susan and Neil Silverman Photography