Bio
Martín Alexander Arellano is an award winning conductor and composer of Nicaraguan & Mexican descent, from California, USA currently based in Tampa, FL. Alex is the founder and current Music Director of the Central California Youth Wind Ensemble based in Turlock, CA that premiered its first season in 2015. In May of 2023, Alex acquired his Master of Arts in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Iowa. That summer, he was awarded the 2nd Jury Prize at the Opéra de Baugé International Conducting Competition.
Alex began studying conducting with Stuart Sims at the California State University: Stanislaus and since has worked with Robert Carnochan and Stephen Moore at the University of Miami. In 2021, Alex received his COP (Cycle d’Orientation Professional) in Orchestral Direction while studying with Miguel Etchegoncelay and Knight of the French Legion of Honor Theodor Guschlbauer at the Strasbourg Conservatoire, where he was selected to represent the conducting studio in a masterclass with David Reiland the Orchestre National de Metz.
While at the University of Iowa, Alex assisted with the University of Iowa Symphony Orchestra (UISO) and served as Artistic Director of the University’s Campus Symphony Orchestra (CSO). He assisted in the Spring & Fall 2022 productions of the University of Iowa Opera Theater, Gilbert & Sullivan’s The HMS Pinafore & Domenico Chimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto, respectively, under Maestro Wayne Wyman. Alex conducted the final performances of both operas. He also assisted Music Director Mark Bruckner in the University of Iowa Department of Theater Art’s Spring 2023 production of Something Rotten!
Alex was recently invited to serve as a Conducting Fellow for the Allentown Symphony and Artistic Director Diane Wittry. He has attended conducting workshops with the Järvi Family (Pärnu Music Festival), David Hill (The Bach Choir), David Reiland (Orchestre National de Metz), Paul Vermel (Emeritus, Northwest Symphony Orchestra), Neil Thomson (Philharmonic Orchestra of Goiás), Peter Jaffe (Stockton Symphony), and Diane Wittry (Allentown Symphony Orchestra). Alex was also a Conducting Fellow with the Miami Symphony Orchestra with Maestro Eduardo Marturet in the 2016 - 2017 season.
As a composer, Alex has written compositions for wind ensemble, symphony orchestra, and various chamber ensembles. He was a finalist in 2019 in the Florida Orchestra’s Student Composer Competition with his work Fantasia on a Song for a Child. Alex has worked with composers including Steven Bryant, Christopher Theofanidis, Victoria Bond, and Avner Dorman. He graduated with his Bachelors Diploma in Music Theory and Composition at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music where he studied with Charles Norman Mason. From 2018 - 2019, Alex served as Assistant Conductor to Shawn Crouch, director of the Frost School of Music’s premier new music ensemble “Ensemble Ibis”.
Alex is an alumnus of the Beta Tau chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia at the University of Miami.
Alex is a BMI associated composer
Alex is a native Spanish speaker and is conversational in French.