Utah Symphony Appoints Jessica Rivero Altarriba as Assistant Conductor

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH (May 15, 2024) – Following a nationwide search, Jessica Rivero Altarriba has been appointed as Assistant Conductor of the Utah Symphony beginning in the 2024-25 season. Altarriba was selected by an audition and interview panel comprised of Utah Symphony musicians and staff members, who recognized her impressive technical expertise, musicianship, and magnetism on the podium, as well as her ability to communicate and connect with audiences. Altarriba was recently announced as a Taki Alsop Fellowship Award Recipient 2024-2026 and is a Freeman Conducting Fellow with Chicago Sinfonietta. She is concluding her 2023-24 season as the New Jersey Symphony’s first-ever Colton Conducting Fellow. Born in Cuba, Altarriba’s prior experience includes positions in her home country, including serving as guest conductor of the Esteban Salas Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the University of the Arts Band, and the Eastern Symphony Orchestra in Santiago de Cuba.

Altarriba succeeds Matthew Straw, who will complete a successful year-long tenure as Utah Symphony Associate Conductor at the end of the 2023-24 season and will begin a new position as Assistant Conductor at Opéra national du Rhin located in Strasbourg, France.

In her role as Assistant Conductor, Altarriba will lead the symphony’s education performances for elementary and secondary school students, and will conduct Utah Symphony’s Halloween Spooktacular, 64^th Annual Salute to Youth concert, select works on a Masterworks program that also includes Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, and all of Utah Symphony’s Family Concert Series including Here Comes Santa Claus!, Gold Rush: An American Musical Adventure, and Wild Symphony, along with other programs throughout the state of Utah. She will serve as the cover conductor for the orchestra’s Masterworks Series, among other artistic responsibilities.

“Auditions are always a challenge, but from the first notes with the Utah Symphony, I was amazed by the sound the orchestra created, the high level of music making, and the spirit of collaboration,” says Altarriba, who begins her new position in September 2024. “This is an orchestra that makes music together in such a natural way and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be part of the fabric of such an extraordinary ensemble and arts-loving community.”

Altarriba is eager to engage Utahns on and off the stage. She will participate in the Utah Symphony’s in-school program “Conductors in the Classroom” (previously known as Adopt-A-School), developing an ongoing and immersive relationship with Cottonwood High School music students during the 2024-25 season and school year. She will visit Cottonwood High School several times during the school year and will be heavily involved with both the band and the orchestra, providing several workshop sessions that include side-by-side instruction, as well as conducting the student musicians during select rehearsals and a final performance. Altarriba’s residency with Cottonwood High School will build upon the many other extensive music education programs offered by Utah Symphony | Utah Opera—altogether serving 100,000 students and teachers each year.

Season Sponsor for Utah Symphony | Utah Opera is the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation. 

About Jessica Rivera Altarriba

Latin American conductor Jessica Rivero Altarriba is known for her charismatic stage presence, dynamic energy, and communicative skills. Recently announced as a Taki Alsop Fellowship Award Recipient from 2024-26 and named the New Jersey Symphony’s first-ever Colton Conducting Fellow for the 2023–24 season, she is also a Freeman Conducting Fellow with Chicago Sinfonietta. Altarriba is concurrently pursuing her master’s degree in conducting at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.

Upcoming engagements this season include performances with the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, New Jersey Symphony, Peabody Symphony Orchestra, and the NOI Institute and National Seminario Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival. During the 2022-23 season she worked with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Peabody Symphony Orchestra, and Lüneburg Symphoniker in Germany as a guest conductor.

Altarriba’s guest engagements include performances with the Málaga Camerata in Spain, Virtuós Mediterrani Orchestra, Lüneburg Symphoniker in Germany, and professional orchestras in Cuba such as the Holguín Symphony Orchestra, Camagüey Symphony Orchestra, Esteban Salas Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of the National School of Art, Eastern Symphony Orchestra, Amadeo Roldán Orchestra, Lyceum Mozartiano Orchestra, and the Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestra of the University of Arts of Cuba. She also conducted incidental music with the Havana-Martin Camerata for the national premiere of Phantom of the Opera.

Festival credits include Cuba’s A Tempo Con Caturla Festival, Jazz Plaza Festival, Contemporary Music Festival, Mozart Havana Festival, and the Arts Festival, where she was awarded first prize for young conductors.

Born in Cuba, Altarriba is equally vested in both established and well-known repertoire and contemporary compositions. Her devotion to her craft is evident in her prior posts, which include serving as guest conductor of the Esteban Salas Symphony Orchestra in Cuba and Music Director of the University of Arts Band and the Eastern Symphony Orchestra in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. She received her bachelor’s degree in conducting from the Arts University in Havana in 2018. During her time at the University of Arts, Altarriba gave world premieres of contemporary pieces including “Calabi’’ by Nathalie Hidalgo Reyes, and “The Creation’’ by Dania Suarez Piorno—in collaboration with the university’s composition faculty. Altarriba is the recipient of an Excellence in Music Leadership Fellowship at The Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, where she is currently pursuing her master’s in orchestral conducting under Marin Alsop.