José Areán is the leading Mexican opera conductor of his generation.
Highlights in his career include conducting Rolando Villazon's
triumphant debut in the role of Nemorino at Bellas Artes Theatre
(2000), and the 1999 production of Carlos Chávez' only opera, The
visitors, which was premiered in its final version at the Cervantino
International Festival to critical acclaim by the Mexican and Spanish
press.

The world premiere recording of this work, led by Areán, was released
in 2000 and received the Mexican Association of Critics' Best
recording of the Year Award.

He has worked with internationally acclaimed Mexican singers such as
Ramon Vargas, Fernando de la Mora, Genaro Sulvarán, Alfredo Daza,
Dante Alcala, and Lourdes Ambriz, among many others.

His concert hall activity is equally relevant, having conducted
international soloists such as Sarah Chang, Giora Feidman, Jorge
Federico Osorio, Pablo Ziegler, among others. In 2005 he became
Associate Conductor of the Mineria Symphony Orchestra, one of Mexico's
finest.

In 2003 Areán conducted the Mexican premiere of Judith Weir's The
Consolations of Scholarship, as well as the world premieres of Séneca,
by Marcela Rodríguez (2004), and En susurros los muertos (On the
whispering Dead) by Gualtiero Dazzi (2005), conducting its European
premiere in Basel (2006).

Areán's intense activity in the new music field led him to become
Musical Director of Onix New Music Ensemble, a versatile chamber group
wholly dedicated to the performance of contemporary works. With Onix
he has conducted many world and Mexican premieres of works by Latin
American and international composers, and has performed regularly at
all Mexican Festivals and in New York.

Born in Mexico City in 1966, Areán's musical training started at the
age of six. After piano and double-bass studies at Mexico's National
School of Music, he went on to study conducting at the Vienna
Conservatory, where he graduated with honours in 1995.

He has recorded five commercial CD's and over twenty concerts and
operas led by him have been broadcasted by TV and radio nationwide in
Mexico. He worked with the Arditti Quartet as artistic producer of
"Mexico, New Music for Strings" (mode records).

He conducted the soundtracks of the films "Under California, the limit
of time", directed by Carlos Bolado, (which won the Mexican Film
Academy Award, the Ariel, for best music) and "Human Beings", directed
by Jorge Aguilera, both with music by Antonio Fernández Ros. He led
the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra in the soundtrack of Arturo
Ripstein's "La virgen de la lujuria" music by Leoncio Lara Bon.
Together with this composer he won the Cristal Screen Prize for the
composition of the soundtrack to "Brusco Despertar" (Sudden
Awakening), directed by Ernesto Godoy.

From 2002 until 2007, José Areán was General Director of the Mexico
City Festival, one of Latin America's foremost international
performing arts events.

He serves as a member of several Boards of Directors and Trustees
(Mexico City Festival, Bicentennial Foundation) and as Musical and
Programming Consultant to several institutions. He was elected by the
magazine "Lideres Mexicanos" as one of the 300 most influential
leaders in the country in 2006 and 2007.

As of 2007, he was appointed General Director of Bellas Artes Opera,
Mexico's national opera company.