Violinist and conductor Jorge Ivan Gonzalez has joined the William Carey University faculty as coordinator of string activities for the Winters School of Music and Ministry Studies. He will be responsible for developing a comprehensive strings program and teaching related classes. He also will assist in recruiting students, nationally and internationally.
Gonzalez holds master and bachelor degrees in music performance from The University of Southern Mississippi. He was the recipient of the George and Hilda McGee award, finalist of the Canadian Music Competition Incorporated, winner of the 1999 Collegiate Artist Strings State Competition in Mississippi, winner of the 2001 William T. Gower Concerto Competition at USM, and awarded New Young Artist of the Victoria Bach Festival in 2001.
With the Austin, Texas, based Conspirare Ensemble, Gonzalez has toured and recorded a CD, “Threshold of the Night,” which was nominated for two GRAMMY Awards. Gonzalez has given solo and chamber music performances in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Colombia, Switzerland and Austria. He has worked with artists such as Jean-Pierre Rampal, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Alexandre Brussilovsky, Sir James Galway, Glenn Dicterow, Placido Domingo, Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, Midori, Keith Lockhart and Leonard Slatkin.
As a conductor, Gonzalez is the director and conductor of the Southern Mississippi Youth Orchestra and of the FestivalSouth Academy Symphony Orchestra. He has guest conducted the Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, the Mobile Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra, the Meridian Symphony Orchestra, the FestivalSouth Chamber Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestra at the Premier Orchestral Institute, and was the conductor of the 2012 and 2017 Mississippi All-State Orchestra.
Gonzalez serves as concertmaster of the Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra, assistant concertmaster of the Mobile Symphony Orchestra, principal second violin and personnel manager of the Meridian Symphony Orchestra, supervisor and conductor of the Hattiesburg Public Schools string orchestras, and artistic director of the FestivalSouth Orchestral and Chamber Music Academy. He was director of youth orchestras at the University of Southern Mississippi (adjunct professor) as founder and conductor of the Southern Mississippi Youth Orchestra. He also serves on the violin faculty of the Harlem Quartet Workshop at Music Mountain in Connecticut and at the Ibague Music Festival in Colombia, South America. Gonzalez was invited to serve as concertmaster of the “Mississippi Bicentennial Symphony Orchestra” to celebrate Mississippi’s 200th anniversary.
