Atlanta Opera Appoints New Principal Conductor

The Mexican conductor Iván López Reynoso will assume the role in September 2025

As Atlanta Opera’s incoming principal conductor from the 2025/26 season, Iván López Reynoso will succeed Arthur Fagen, who is now the company’s music director emeritus after serving the role for 14 years. 

López Reynoso’s previous roles have included interim artistic director of the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra, first kapellmeister of the Staatstheater Braunschweig, principal guest conductor of the Oviedo Filarmonía, associate conductor of the Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM, and artistic director of the Orquesta del Teatro de Bellas Artes. 

He has also led the Philharmonia Zürich, National Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of Spain, Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla, Staatsorchester Braunschweig, Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid, Oviedo Filarmonía, National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, Orchestra and Chorus of Mexico’s Bellas Artes Theater, and more. 

Since making his opera debut in 2010 at the age of 20 with Le Nozze di Figaro, he has led over 50 operas — including Aida, Der fliegende Holländer, Carmen, La bohème, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Don Giovanni, Madama Butterfly, Carmen La Traviata, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Rigoletto, Tosca, Don Carlo, and the debut in Mexico of Rossini’s Le comte Ory, Il viaggio a Reims and Donizetti’s Viva la mamma.  

López Reynoso first studied violin with Gellya Dubrova, piano with Alexander Pashkov, and choir conducting with Jorge Medina. He later graduated from orchestral conducting under Gonzalo Romeu. 

In 2014, he was selected for the Rossini Opera Festival Accademia. His other mentors have included Alberto Zedda, Jean Paul Penin, and Avi Ostrowsky. 

“It is with immense joy that I share that I have been appointed Managing Director of The Atlanta Opera, an exemplary company committed to deep human, social and artistic values,” López Reynoso shared. “It’s an honorable distinction that I will begin performing from season 25/26 with Puccini’s Turandot. I am infinitely grateful to the company for the confidence to add me to their extraordinary work team.”

“We are thrilled to announce that Maestro Iván López Reynoso will be joining us as the new Principal Conductor of The Atlanta Opera,” the company posted on Facebook. “When Maestro Reynoso took the podium for Macbeth, we knew something extraordinary had begun,” they added. “His artistry, passion, and deep theatrical intuition made a lasting impression — and now it’s official: he’ll lead us into the future, beginning with the 2025–26 season. Following two decades of visionary leadership from Maestro Arthur Fagen, we turn the page to an exciting new chapter.”