Felipe Tristán

Mexican-American conductor Felipe Tristán has performed on stages across the Americas, Europe and Asia, with a growing presence in European concert halls including Austria, Hungary, Italy, Bulgaria, Belgium, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Recognized for his versatility across symphonic, operatic and ballet repertoire, he is Interim Music Director of the San Antonio Philharmonic, the first Mexican-American conductor to lead the orchestra in its 87 years, Principal Conductor of Ballet de Monterrey and a member of the conducting faculty at the Manhattan School of Music.

Highlights from the 26/27 season include his American Ballet Theatre (ABT) debut at the Metropolitan Opera House, in New York. At Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes, he makes his debut with the Compañía Nacional de Ópera, conducting La señora en su balcón and Cavalleria rusticana. He also debuts with Philadelphia Ballet, leading Prokofiev's Cinderella in Stevenson's choreography.

He has served as guest conductor at the Met Gala in consecutive years under the artistic direction of Anna Wintour and Baz Luhrmann, been featured in the Disney+ documentary In Vogue: The 90s, and collaborated with J.Crew on a campaign uniting fashion and classical music. Following a decade-long relationship with the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, Tristán brought classical music into conversation with fashion, film and contemporary New York culture. Under his leadership, OperaWire noted he was "launching a new era" for orchestral life in Brooklyn.

In opera he has conducted La traviata, Carmen, Don Giovanni, L'elisir d'amore, Falstaff, Il trovatore, La bohème, and L'amico Fritz, among others. His ballet repertoire includes Giselle, The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, Balanchine's Serenade, Majísimo, The Talisman and the world premiere of former Royal Ballet principal Thiago Soares's Maximiliano & Carlota, and he has worked with choreographers including Robbie Fairchild and Marcelo Gomes. Critic Armando Dájer wrote that "Tristán achieves a perfect synergy between the score and the dancers." He was assistant conductor on San Francisco Ballet's Carmen, choreographed by Arielle Smith.

Since his Carnegie Hall debut in 2016, Tristán has conducted the Sofia Philharmonic, Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra of Szolnok,Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz, Orchestra Filarmonica della Calabria, Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Philharmonic, San Antonio Philharmonic, Symphony of Northwest Arkansas and the Zhengzhou Symphony Orchestra, along with numerous orchestras in his native Mexico. His Vienna debut took him to the podium of the Prague Philharmonic at the Imperial Hofburg Palace, at a gala concert attended by members of the Habsburg-Lorraine family.

In 2024 he became the first Mexican conductor to receive the Muzyczne Orły Award from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, in the category of Best Recording, for Flute Concertos: Penderecki & Reinecke, recorded with the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra (Hänssler Classic). In 2026 he received the Gold Medal from ProArte & Cultura Group in Belgium, in recognition of his contribution to art and humanist values at the international level, at a ceremony at Rixensart Castle attended by European royalty, where he also performed with members of the Brussels Philharmonic.

Tristán has collaborated with Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the New York Philharmonic's Bandwagon series. As Principal Conductor of the Texas New Music Festival in Houston, he has led over 40 world premieres. Profiled in Forbes and a speaker at TEDx Zhengzhou, he is a First Prize Winner of the Klangkraft Orchester Dirigierwettbewerb in Germany and the International Conductors Workshop and Competition in Atlanta. His education spanned three continents, ending with postgraduate studies at the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana, graduating cum laudeunder Maestro Arturo Tamayo, a direct disciple of Pierre Boulez. He is based in New York.