Throughout his career, Maestro Theo Alcantara has held positions with leading musical organizations in Europe, North and South America. These have included tenures as conductor with the Frankfurt Opera, Music Director of the Grand Rapids Symphony, Music Director of the Phoenix Symphony, Principal Conductor of the Pittsburgh Opera, Artistic Director of the Bilbao Symphony, Principal Guest Conductor of the National Orchestra of Spain, Artistic Director of the Caracas Opera, Artistic Director of the Music Academy of the West Summer Festival in Santa Barbara, California, and Artistic Advisor and Chief Conductor of the Buenos Aires Philharmonic and the Orchestra of the Teatro Colon.
He also enjoys a distinguished reputation as a guest conductor having appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Utah Symphony, Florida Philharmonic, New Orleans Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Oregon Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Puerto Rico Symphony, National Symphony of Mexico, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin, the Spanish Radio and Television Orchestra, Copenhagen Radio Orchestra, the Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Caracas, Venezuela, Municipal Orchestra of Taipei in a tour of China, Barcelona Symphony, Salzburg Camerata Academica, and the Paris Radio and Television Orchestra.
Maestro Alcantara has performed with many of the major opera companies throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and South America. He has conducted the Metropolitan Opera on tour, the New York City Opera, the Teatro Colon of Buenos Aires, the San Diego Opera, the Teatro Liceo in Barcelona, the Canadian Opera in Toronto, Puerto Rico Opera, the Madrid Opera, the Miami Opera, the New Orleans Opera, and the International Opera Festival in the Canary Islands.
Born in Cuenca, Spain, Theo Alcantara began his musical training as a choirboy in a Spanish seminary at the age of seven. Later, he received diplomas in piano and composition from the Real Conservatorio de Musica in Madrid, and during that period, toured as a concert pianist and accompanist throughout Spain, France, and North Africa. He received his diploma in conducting from the Akademie Mozarteum in Salzburg, where he also attended the renowned master classes of Herbert von Karajan. There he was awarded the Lilli Lehmann Medal for his outstanding achievements as a conductor. In 1966 he won the Silver Medal at the Dimitri Mitropolous International Conducting Competition in New York.