Rafael Sánchez-Araña

Rafael Sánchez-Araña’s Biography

Rafael Sánchez-Araña is principal conductor of the Las Palmas Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Canary Islands Zarzuela Season.

He completed advanced studies in orchestral conducting at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold under Karl Heinz Bloemeke and at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden under Georg Christoph Sandmann, where he earned a Master’s Degree in Orchestral Conducting. He previously obtained higher degrees in violin performance and choral conducting in Spain.

From 2017 to 2023, he served as assistant conductor to the principal conductor of the Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra, K.M. Chichon, music director of the Gran Canaria Youth Orchestra, and artistic director of the Philharmonic’s Educational Concert Series.

He has collaborated with conductors including Daniel Oren, Sesto Quatrini, José Miguel Pérez-Sierra, Alessandro D’Agostini or Ramón Tebar, and has worked in opera houses and festivals such as the Bordeaux National Opera, Lithuanian National Opera, Opéra de Paris (Bastille), Szeged National Opera, Opera Teatro Principal Palma of Mallorca, Tenerife Opera, or Las Palmas Opera.

His operatic repertoire includes Così fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Carmen, Rigoletto, Nabucco, Aida, Cavalleria rusticana, Tosca, La bohème, Manon Lescaut, La traviata, Don Pasquale, Roberto Devereux or L’elisir d’amore. He is also a specialist in zarzuela, conducting works such as Doña Francisquita, La revoltosa, El dúo de la africana, La del manojo de rosas, La dolorosa, el barbero de Sevilla, La verbena de la paloma, La hija del Mestre or Luisa Fernanda.

He has worked with internationally renowned soloists including Ermonela Jaho, Ludovic Tézier, Jessica Pratt, Roberto Scandiuzzi, Arturo Chacón-Cruz, Yolanda Auyanet, José Bross, Yulia Matochkina, Nino Machaidze, Daniela Barcellona, Vanessa Goikoetxea, Jorge de León, Iván Ayón Rivas, or Ivo Pogorelich.

Guest engagements include appearances with the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra, Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, Oviedo Philarmonic, North Czech Philharmonic, Neue Lausitzer Philharmonie, Slovenian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, Hungarian National Opera Orchestra, Lithuanian National Opera Orchestra, Comunity of Madrid Orchestra, Lyceum Orchestra of La Habana, among others.

In December 2022, he made a last-minute replacement (“jump-in”) conducting Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, during of Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra subscription season.

Upcoming engagements include his debut at Madrid’s Teatro de la Zarzuela in El gato montés by Penella (June 2026). Concert gala of zarzuela in Palermo with Silician Symphony Orchestra (July 2026).