Roberto González-Monjas

Biography

Born in Valladolid, Spain, in 1988, Roberto has quickly become a sought-after musician, praised for his versatility and engagement in a broad span of projects and musical areas.

He is the concertmaster of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Musikkollegium Winterthur and the Verbier Festival Orchestras; he also guest leads the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Les Musiciens Du Louvre-Grenoble, the Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie, the Manchester Camerata and the Barcelona and Galician Symphony Orchestras, as well as other international ensembles. A passionate leader, Roberto is increasingly devoting himself to directing ensembles, as well as taking his first steps in the world of conducting.

He appears as a soloist with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, Symphony in C, Medellín Philharmonic, Mozarteum University Orchestra, Musikkollegium Winterthur, London Schools Symphony Orchestra, and Castilla y León Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Christoph Eschenbach, Gábor Takacs-Nagy, Douglas Boyd, Reinhard Goebel and Trevor Pinnock, among others.

An active chamber musician, he is the primarius of the Winterthurer Streichquartett and has also performed with artists such as Ana Chumachenco, Lukas Hagen, Alessandro Carbonare, Christian Zacharias, Andreas Ottensamer, Gautier Capuçon, Denes Varjon, Wen-Sinn Yang, Wolfgang Boettcher, Kit Armstrong, Nicolas Altstaedt and Janine Jansen; besides, he collaborates with composers John Corigliano, Lera Auerbach, Richard Dubugnon and Fazil Say.

Social projects and education have become an important part of Roberto’s life: in September 2013 he joined the Guildhall School of Music & Drama as a violin professor; he is also Joint Artistic Director of the Medellín Philharmonic Academy in Colombia. In addition, he collaborates with educational institutions such as the Verbier Festival Music Camp and the New World Symphony in Miami.

Roberto studied at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg with Igor Ozim and at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London with David Takeno. Moreover, he has been deeply influenced by musical contact with John Corigliano, Ana Chumachenco, Sergei Fatkulin, Reinhard Goebel, Charles Dutoit, Leonidas Kavakos, Franz Welser-Möst, Gábor Takacs-Nagy, Christian Tetzlaff, the Hagen Quartet and Ferenc Rados.

He plays an instrument built by Giuseppe Guarnieri ‘filius Andreae’ in 1710, thanks to the generosity of five Winterthur families and the Rychenberg Stiftung.