Juanjo Mena

Who is Juanjo Mena?

Juanjo Mena is a Spanish conductor. His brother Carlos Mena is a countertenor and his sister Elena is a research chemist.

Mena began his music studies at the Vitoria-Gasteiz Conservatory. He later attended the Madrid Royal Conservatory, where his teachers included Carmelo Bernaola and Enrique García Asensio. He also studied conducting with Sergiu Celibidache in Munich on a Guridi-Bernaola scholarship. In 1997, the Basque Government selected Mena to form the Youth Orchestra of Euskal Herria. He subsequently became associate conductor of the Euskadi Symphony Orchestra.

From 1999 to 2008, Mena was artistic director and principal conductor of the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra. With the Bilbao orchestra, he conducted commercial recordings for Naxos Records of music by Jesús Guridi and Andrés Isasi. His guest-conducting debut in North America was with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 2004. Mena served as principal guest conductor of the Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa from 2007 to 2010. He was principal guest conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra from 2007 to 2013.