Baylor Music Grad Giancarlo Guerrero Wins Multiple Grammy Awards

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WACO, Texas (Feb. 13, 2017) — Baylor University School of Music graduate and conductor Giancarlo Guerrero won two Grammy Awards Sunday, Feb. 12, for his conducting achievements, bringing to five the number he has received in his career so far.

At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, he won top honors in two classical categories, and his Nashville Symphony was included in yet another.

For Best Classical Compendium, Guerrero and the Nashville Symphony were honored for their recording of Michael Daugherty's Tales of Hemingway, American Gothic, and Once Upon a Castle.

For Best Classical Instrumental Solo, Guerrero and the NSO were honored, with cellist Zuill Bailey, for Daugherty's Tales of Hemingway.

In the category of Best Contemporary Classical Composition, Michael Daugherty was singled out for his Tales of Hemingway on the strength of the acclaimed Guerrero/NSO performance. (Awards for Best Contemporary Classical Composition go solely to a work's composer, not to the performers.)

Guerrero was unable to attend Sunday's pre-broadcast ceremony, but cellist Zuill Bailey publicly thanked him "for conducting this live performance that I'll never forget."

In 2011, his first recording with the NSO — Michael Daugherty's Metropolis Symphony and Deux Ex Machina —earned him Grammy Awards for Best Orchestral Performance and Best Engineered Classical Album (and, for Daugherty alone, Best Classical Composition). In 2012, Guerrero won a Grammy for Best Classical Instrumental Solo, along with percussionist Christopher Lamb, in a performance of Joseph Schwantner's Concerto for Percussion.
Guerrero has served as music director of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra since 2009. Prior to that, he was conductor of the Tachira (Venezuela) Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Eugene (Oregon) Symphony Orchestra. He has guest conducted with such ensembles as the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, and the Filarmónica de Buenos Aires, and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Born in Managua, Nicaragua, Guerrero was raised in Costa Rica, played in the Costa Rica Youth Symphony, and, while still in his teens, became a percussionist with the Costa Rican National Symphony Orchestra. He earned his bachelor of music degree in percussion performance at Baylor in 1991. While at Baylor, he also studied conducting with Michael Haithcock (now director of University Bands and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Conducting at the University of Michigan) and Stephen Heyde (The Mary Franks Thompson Professor of Orchestral Studies and Conductor-in-Residence at Baylor) before receiving a master's degree in conducting from Northwestern University.

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The Baylor University School of Music provides transformational experiences that prepare students for careers in music. Our students thrive in a Christian environment characterized by a nurturing resident faculty, an unwavering pursuit of musical excellence, a global perspective, dedication to service, and devotion to faith. They investigate the rich musical and cultural heritage of the past, develop superior musical skills and knowledge in the present, and explore and create new modes of musical expression for the future. While preparing for future leadership roles, the students join with School of Music faculty in enhancing the quality of community life, enriching the larger culture, and making Baylor a place in which heart, mind and soul coalesce. The School of Music of Baylor University is a member of the National Association of Schools of Music and the Texas Association of Music Schools. Degree programs leading to the bachelor of music education degree conform to certification requirements of the Texas Education Agency.