CONDUCTOR
Cuban born conductor Libia Hernandez exchanged her engineering studies at the City College of New York for a life in music and received her Master of Music at the University of Hartford where she studied with double bass virtuoso Gary Karr. She was a member of both the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Amsterdam Bach Soloist from 1990 till 2002 and performed under the direction of conductors such as Frans Brüggen, Richard Egarr, Valery Gergiev, Bernard Haitink, Mariss Jansons, Simon Rattle and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
In 2003 Ms. Hernández began her conducting studies with the Finnish pedagogue Jorma Panula in Moscow while pursuing a degree program at the Hague’s Royal Conservatoire of Music under the tutelage of Jac van Steen and Kenneth Montgomery.
She participated in master classes and workshops with Neeme Järvi, Riccardo Muti, Michel Tabachnik and Ilan Volkov.
Libia Hernández has conducted the Dortmund Philharmonic, The Hague Philharmonic, the North Netherlands Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic and the Brabant’s Symphony Orchestra. She has also regularly served as Assistant Conductor of the Dutch National Opera (DNO).
Libia Hernández has a special affinity for working with and nurturing young musicians and singers. She was Principal Conductor of the University of Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, “Sweelinckorkest” from 2009 till 2016.
She has conducted the Dutch National Youth Orchestra (NJO) and conducted and coached talented young musicians from all over the world at the Bayreuth Festival of Young Artists.
In 2018 she led the European Opera Academy’s groundbreaking production of Jacques Offenbach’s “Les Brigands”, featuring young singers from all over Europe, each singing and speaking in their native language ranging from Dutch, English and French to German, Hungarian, Italian, Serbian and Spanish.
From 2016 to 2019 Libia Hernández was assistant conductor of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, under chief conductor Xian Zhang. In February 2020 she conducted the Miami Lyric Opera’s production of Verdi’s “La Traviata.”
Libia Hernandez is principal guest conductor of the Lyceum Mozartiano Institute in Havana, Cuba and has worked and performed with young musicians from the Paulita Concepción Music School, Amadeo Roldán Conservatory and Instituto Superior de Arte in the last four editions of the Mozart Havana Festival. Her production of “L’Histoire du Soldat” was awarded the Best Performance of the 2018/2019 music and theater season in Havana.
In 2021/22 she will conduct a newly commissioned opera “la Luz Musical, Amadeo Roldán” written by two young Cuban Composers, Jose Gavilondo and Yasel Muñoz. This production will be performed in Havana, Salzburg, Amsterdam and Berlin.
Libia Hernández is founder, artistic director and conductor of the SoundWave Collective, a new group for musicians, singers and dancers, launched to create performance opportunities for young professionals to help them develop their passion while acquiring experience needed to advance their careers.
In 2019 SoundWave Collective was awarded a grant from the city of the Hague for their first production of “The Soldier’s Tale” by Igor Stravinsky, featuring newly created texts, written and performed by local rap artist, Josimar Gomes and expanding on the group’s creative mission of broadening the artistic landscape for classical music in the 21st century.