Born in Barcelona in 1962, Ernest Martínez Izquierdo has been artistic and music director of the Navarre Symphony Orchestra since 1997. After his musical training in Barcelona and Paris, he began his career as a conductor with the establishment of Barcelona 216, specialising in contemporary chamber music.
From 2002 until 2006 he was conductor and artistic director of the Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra (OBC), continuing as principal conductor until 2009. At the same time he conducted other leading Spanish and international orchestras, including the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de Lyon, Warsaw Philharmonic, Zagreb Philharmonic, Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, the Beethoven Academie, Antwerp, and the Tonkünstler Orchestra of lower Austria, Vienna, and ensembles such as the Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal, Ensemble Modern, Frankfurt, Wien Klangforum, and the Avanti Chamber Orchestra (Helsinki). He has conducted operas, including Saariaho’s Adriana Mater in Finland and the United States.
He has recorded for Telarc, Harmonia Mundi, Col legno, Ircam, Stradivarius and Naxos. Awards have included the Ojo Crítico of Spanish National Radio, the Catalan Roland Journalism Prize for Classical Music, the Ciutat de Barcelona Prize and the Latin GRAMMY®. Since 2006 he has been a member of the Catalan Saint George Royal Academy of Fine Arts.