About Irene

Spanish conductor Irene Delgado-Jiménez was appointed Associate Fellow 2022-24 by the foundation Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship, a period that marked the beginning of her close artistic collaboration with Marin Alsop and the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSO). Delgado-Jiménez serves also as Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of Thalassa Orchestra in Spain.

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In the 2025–2026 season, Delgado-Jiménez will return on several occasions to the Vienna RSO with programs featuring works by Ravel, Poulenc, Guilmant, and Orff. She will also make her debut at the MusikTheater an der Wien conducting operas by Martinů and Weinberg. Further engagements include the 25th anniversary celebrations of ESMUC with a program of Falla and Stravinsky, and guest appearances with the Royal Seville Symphony Orchestra, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR), and Vienna’s Black Page Orchestra.

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Her 2024–2025 season was marked by two appearances at the Wien Modern Festival: the opening concert with the RSO and the world premiere of Matthias Kranebitter’s opera-ballet "O! A Biography" with the Black Page Orchestra. She also recorded two albums with the RSO for Sony Classical as well as a recording with the Black Page Orchestra. Other notable projects included debuts with the Royal Seville Symphony Orchestra, the Granada City Orchestra, and the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie. With the Tonkünstler Orchestra she appeared in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein, becoming the first Spanish woman to conduct in this legendary venue.

 

Highlights of the 23/24 season include returning to Palau de la Música for her first appearance with Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès, serving as Assistant and Cover Conductor at Theater an der Wien and ORF-RSO’s production “Candide”, her South African debut with the Johannesburg Philharmonic and KZN Philharmonic, and her debut with Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao, among others.

 

For the third consecutive year, she premiered a commissioned opera at Gran Teatre del Liceu, conducting Ferran Cruixent’s opera “ELIZA” (2024).

 

In 2022-23 season Delgado-Jiménez assisted Marin Alsop with the ORF-RSO at the Wien Modern Festival and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia Festival (USA). Other engagements included productions with NOSPR in Poland, the Reno Philharmonic and her debut in Palau de la Música in Barcelona, rediscovering Marianne von Martines' 1782 oratorio "Isacco, figura del Redentore". After debuting to critical acclaim at Barcelona’s Teatre del Liceu conducting Marc Migó’s opera “The Fox Sisters” (2022), Delgado-Jiménez returned to the opera house to premiere the opera "Filles del món" by Marian Márquez (2023).

 

In the educational area, she has collaborated as a Lecturer for Musical Rehearsals in the Master of Opera at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna (MUK, 2022).

 

In 2021, Delgado-Jiménez made her debut at the Wiener Konzerthaus with the Tonkünstler Orchestra and her operatic debut in Vienna took place in May 2021, with Stravinsky's opera Mavra. At the same year she served as Assistant Conductor at the Neue Oper Wien in Wolfgang Rihm's production of Proserpina.

 

In 2020, she recorded recorded de Falla’s El Amor Brujo with Anna Colom and the Orquestra Terres de Marca (Barcelona). Earlier, she had her Italian debut with the Catania Philharmonic and the Coro Lirico Siciliano. She also had the distinct honor of conducting the Opening Fanfare at the Vienna Ball of Sciences at Vienna’s City Hall in both 2020 and 2019.

 

Between 2018-2020 Delgado-Jiménez served as Assistant Conductor in several productions at the Wiener Kammeroper and the Vienna Radiokulturhaus. The repertoire covered included Bernstein’s Mass, Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera, Beethoven Triple Concerto, Schumann’s and Mahler’s 4th Symphonies, among others.

 

In 2017, Irene was awarded a Special Commendation at the Graz Conducting Competition in Austria in conducting the Kammerphilharmonie Graz. In 2012 she won the Piano Prize of Honor of the Barcelona Conservatory, as well as the Soloist Competition, performing Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto. She has participated in masterclasses with Marin Alsop, Douglas Bostock, Sian Edwards, Mark Heron and Simon Carrington, among others.

 

Delgado-Jiménez conducted many different orchestras, choirs and ensembles in Barcelona. Namely, from 2016 to 2018 she held the positions of Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Sant Cugat Sinfonietta -formerly Sant Cugat Youth Orchestra-, Symphonic Band AMCV and the Tornaveu Jazz Chamber Choir.

 

Irene is deeply committed to nurturing the cultural scene of her home country beyond the podium. She has written for several music magazines and spreads awareness of classical music through various media. Moreover, she leads the organization Thalassa Music Project, dedicated to the promotion and divulgation of classical music at a professional level in the south of Spain.