El Paso native Andres Moran has been appointed the new music director for the El Paso Symphony Youth Orchestras starting in the fall of 2009. In addition to this role, Moran will serve as the assistant conductor of the El Paso Symphony Orchestra where he will oversee all Family, Pops, and Educational Outreach programs. Moran began his career while pursuing a degree in music education from New Mexico State University. He performed extensively with both the El Paso Symphony Orchestra and the Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra and was also an active member of the music education community. Moran taught middle school and high school band in the El Paso Independent School District and also helped initiate a music mentorship project that provided one-on-one instruction for young musicians living in low income areas.
During the summer of 2009, Moran will serve as the David Effron Conducting Fellow at the Chautauqua Music Festival. He will serve as assistant to Maestro Timothy Muffitt and conduct several performances throughout the summer. From 2007 to 2009, Moran served as associate instructor in the Instrumental Conducting department for Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music. In this role, he collaborated with the IU Opera and Ballet Theater on their production of Perspectives 1900's, conducting fully staged versions of Debussy's L'Après-midi d'un faune and Chopin's Les Sylphides. In October 2008, Moran again collaborated with the IU Ballet Theater in the recreation of George Balanchine's original production of Hindemith's The Four Temperaments. Moran also worked closely with Pulitzer Prize winning composer William Bolcom in the collegiate premiere of his opera A Wedding as well as a new production of Puccini's La Boheme.
As assistant conductor for the National Repertory Orchestra in 2008, Moran shared the podium with Maestro Carl Topilow on several occasions in both classical and pops concerts while also leading full orchestral and educational performances. In 2007, Moran served as staff conductor at the Brevard Music Festival where he conducted both orchestral and chamber music performances. During the 2006 summer season, he was invited to the Music in the Mountains Festival in Durango, Colorado to conduct a concert celebrating the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth. In May of 2005, Los Angeles's Young Musicians Foundation selected Moran as a finalist in their national search for a music director for their Debut Orchestra.
Moran is currently in the process of completing his doctorate degree in Instrumental Conducting from Indiana University. He received a graduate degree in Orchestral Conducting at Southern Methodist University while simultaneously pursuing a degree in Horn Performance. Moran's principal conducting teachers are David Effron, Arthur Fagen, and Paul C. Phillips. He has participated in masterclasses with Leonard Slatkin, Herbert Blomstedt, Marin Alsop, and Michael Morgan.