Dynamic Venezuelan conductor Enluis Montes Olivar, 29, is receiving international acclaim for his artistry and dynamic energy. He currently serves as Associate Conductor of the Simón Bolívar Chamber Orchestra since January of 2024, Conducting Fellow of the San Diego Symphony and Music and Artistic Director of The Blue Morpho Orchestra. In 2024, he was awarded the prestigious Glenn Gould Protégé Prize, which followed his 1st Prize and Orchestra Prize at the 2022 International Conducting Competition of the University of Almería in Spain.
He has appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, San Diego Symphony, New West Symphony, Redlands Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica Metropolitana di Bari in Italy, Orchestre National de Mulhouse in France, the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra in China and with the Bogota Philharmonic in Colombia. He recently led the Simón Bolívar Chamber Orchestra on tour in Algeria and in a complete Symphonic Beethoven Cycle in Caracas. With the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, he has released an album in May of 2025 featuring music of Carreño, Castellanos and Estevez. Additionally, in May 2026, Montes Olivar made his debut with the New York Philharmonic alongside the internationally renowned trumpeter Pacho Flores at the annual concert at St. John the Divine Cathedral, a tradition of the NY Phil dating back to 1992.
Upcoming appearances in 2026 and 2027 include returning engagement with the Bogota Philharmonic as guest conductor and the San Diego Symphony as a conducting fellow and guest conductor at The Rady Shell including conducting the traditional summer concert: Tchaikovsky Spectacular. He will also return as cover conductor with the New York Philharmonic over an European tour in spring of 2026 and he will lead a Symphonic Brahms Cycle with the Simón Bolívar Chamber Orchestra. Upcoming debuts include The Youth Orchestra of Galicia and the Galicia Symphony both in Spain.
As a two seasons Dudamel Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Enluis conducted performances at both Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl, where critic Tony Frankel praised his work as "virtuosic splendor" and "a master class in musicianship." Additionally, he has served as assistant conductor at the Opéra National de Paris, collaborating with Gustavo Dudamel on Nixon in China and with Alexander Soddy on Lohengrin.
Enluis received a diploma in Orchestral Conducting from the Simón Bolívar Conservatory of Music in 2023 and he also received his Bachelor of Arts in Music from Columbus State University, USA in spring of 2026 with honors (Summa Cum Laude), in addition to serving as Associate Conductor of the Schwob Philharmonic and Opera and the Columbus Ballet from 2022-2026. A product of Venezuela's El Sistema, Enluis has led performances with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, Juan José Landaeta Symphony, Caracas Symphony Orchestra, and the Simón Bolívar National Choir. He conducted a landmark posthumous tribute to Maestro José Antonio Abreu, uniting members of the El Sistema family, and led a Guinness World Record-setting performance with an orchestra and chorus of 12,000 musicians, the largest ensemble of its kind.
He began his formal conducting studies in 2012 with Teresa Hernández, José Antonio Abreu, Gregory Carreño, and Franka Verhagen, and has participated in masterclasses with renowned conductors such as Dick van Gasteren, Eduardo Marturet, Diego Matheuz, Roberto Zambrano, John Farrer, Leaf Bjaland, Mark Churchill, Marc Moncusí, Luis Mauricio Carneiro, David Cubek, Ransom Wilson and Nathalie Stutzmann. Enluis continues his studies currently pursuing a master's degree in higher education at the Libertador Experimental Pedagogical University in Venezuela.
