The Spanish conductor, (Luis Antonio) García Navarro, was educated at the Valencia Conservatory, where he studied oboe. He also took courses at the Madrid Conservatory. He then went to Vienna to study conducting with Hans Swarowsky, Karl Oesterreicher, and Reinhold Schmid. He also took composition lessons with Alfred Uhl. In 1967 he won 1st prize at the conducting competition in Besançon.
García Navarro was music director of the Valencia Symphony Orchestra from 1970 to 1974. Then he was associate conductor of the Noordhollands Philharmonic in Haarlem from (1974-1978), and music director of Lisbon's Portuguese Radio Symphony Orchestra (1976-1978) and National Opera at the Sao Carlos Theater (1980-1982). In 1979 he made his debut as an opera conductor at London's Covent Garden, and then appeared for the first time in the USA in 1980. He was Generalmusikdirektor of the Württemberg State Theater in Stuttgart from 1987 to 1991. |