Colombian-American conductor Lina González-Granados represents musical excellence

In April, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra welcomed a dynamic young conductor to the podium. Lina González–Granados is a Colombian American musician who has received numerous accolades: she won the prestigious Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition and the 2021 Sphinx Medal of Excellence. She has also held positions as the inaugural Conducting Fellow of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Conducting Fellow of the Seattle Symphony. González-Granados joined Lois Reitzes on “City Lights” to discuss her remarkable career.

González-Granados was raised in the mountain city of Cali, Colombia to a family that included poets and painters, doctors and engineers, but no musicians. Cali is a metropolitan hub of Latin America, and González-Granados was exposed regularly to “classical music, opera, Spanish rock, pop, everything that you could name.” As she began her solo exploration into the realm of musicality her mother, a doctor, encouraged her to learn the music of her home country, impressing the importance of learning Colombian tunes that would “connect you [to the] the city.” Her growth as both a musician and a conductor has taken her far outside the borders of her home country, whisking her across the continent and all over Europe.

The Los Angeles Opera named González-Granados as its resident conductor in 2023, and when asked about the opportunities represented in L.A., González said that “L.A. represents an open window to any kind of repertoire and possibility. I am in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, one block away is the L.A. Philharmonic, one block away is Colburn … there is a musical experience to be lived.”