About Enluis Montes Olivar

Dynamic 27-year-old Venezuelan conductor Enluis Montes Olivar is receiving glowing reviews from around the world. The actual Associate Conductor of the Simon Bolivar Chamber Orchestra, Assistant Conductor of the Schwob Philharmonic and Music and Artistic Director of The Blue Morpho Orchestra recently won 1st Prize and the Orchestra Prize of the 2nd International Conducting Competition of University of Almeria and made debuts with the San Francisco Symphony, San Diego Symphony and the New West Symphony.

Previously he served as a Dudamel Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for two seasons where he led the orchestra in multiple performances at both Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. Of his leadership with the LA Philharmonic, music critic Tony Frankel said that the Hollywood Bowl saw Venezuelan conductor (and Gustavo Dudamel fellow) Enluis Montes Olivar in “virtuosic splendor” and that the concert was “a master class in musicianship.”

Upcoming appearances include return engagements with the San Diego Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica Metropolitana di Bari, The Blue Morpho Orchestra, and the Simon Bolivar Symphony. In the Opera National de Paris, Enluis recently served as an assistant conductor to Gustavo Dudamel in a production of John Adams’ Nixon in China featuring Thomas Hampson and Renee Fleming, also he served in the same capacity for ONP’s Fall 2023 production of Wagner’s Lohengrin under the baton of Alexander Soddy.

Enluis received a diploma in orchestral conducting from the Simon Bolivar Conservatory of Music and with the El Sistema program he has led numerous performances with orchestras including the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, Juan Jose Landaeta Symphony, Caracas Symphony Orchestra, Simon Bolivar National Choir and others. As a result of this work, he was selected to lead a posthumous tribute to Maestro José Antonio Abreu that involved members of the entire El Sistema family. He also conducted an orchestra and chorus comprised of 12,000 musicians in a subsequent concert, which in turn set the Guinness World Record for the largest orchestra in the world.

Enluis began his formal studies in orchestral conducting in 2012 with Teresa Hernández, José Antonio Abreu, Gregory Carreño, and Franka Verhagen. He has participated in conducting workshops with Dick van Gasteren, Eduardo Marturet, Diego Matheuz, Roberto Zambrano, Jhon Farrer, Leonardo Panigada, Tarcisio Barreto, Holger Baron, Leaf Bjaland, Mark Churchill, Marc Moncusí, Luis Mauricio Carneiro, David Cubeck, and Nathalie Stutzmann. Currently he is also studying conducting with Paul Hostetter, voice with Dr. Michelle Debruyn, piano with Dr. Esther Park, and opera direction with Dr. Joshua May at the Schwob School of Music, Columbus State University.