Known for his charisma and expressive interpretations, Grammy Award-winning Mexican conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto has established himself not only as a major figure in the orchestral world, but also as an influential educator, cultural change-maker and champion of new music.
Highlights include engagements with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the Hallé, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, Houston Symphony, Spanish National Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Strasbourg Philharmonic, Auckland Philharmonia and a successful BBC Proms debut at Royal Albert Hall.
Prieto was named music director of the North Carolina Symphony in 2023 and has been music director of Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería since 2008, with whom he earned a Latin Grammy nomination for best classical music album. From 2007 to 2022, Prieto was music director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, the country’s leading ensemble, and significantly raised the caliber of the orchestra. He was also music director of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra from 2006 to 2023, where he helped lead the cultural renewal of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
An advocate for music education, Prieto has conducted the Youth Orchestra of the Americas since its inception. Alongside Gustavo Dudamel, Prieto served as the orchestra’s principal conductor from 2001 until 2011, when he was appointed music director. In 2018, he conducted the orchestra on a tour of European summer festivals, which included performances at the Rheingau and Edinburgh festivals, as well as at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. He also has worked regularly with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and the NYO2 in New York.
Prieto is renowned for championing new and lesser-known Latin American and African American music. He has conducted over 100 world premieres of works by Mexican and American composers, many of which he commissioned. Prieto has recorded on Deutsche Gramophone, Naxos and Sony labels, and was recognized by Musical America as the 2019 Conductor of the Year. A graduate of Princeton and Harvard universities, Prieto studied conducting with Jorge Mester, Enrique Diemecke, Charles Bruck and Michael Jinbo.
March 2025
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSO by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
