Gustavo Fontana Kadekjian has served as a guest conductor in more than 25 countries, collaborating with artists such as John Malkovich, Pinchas Zukerman, Eleonora Cassano, Amanda Forsyth, Pacho Flores, Micéal O’Rourke, Aristo Sham and Anna Miernik among others.
Kadekjian is a Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the National University of Arts in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Kadekjian began his musical career as a member of the Children Choir of the Teatro Colón, singing in productions with artists like Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti. As a professional trumpet player he was led by conductors of the stature of Kurt Masur and Zubin Mehta among others.
He was the manager of a show production company with which he created the Sinfónico.AR project that was presented with great success in theaters such as the San Martín Theater, Kirchner Cultural Center, Eva Perón Amphitheater in Parque Centenario. Former Artistic Director at the Teatro Argentino in La Plata – the Provincial Center of Arts, he currently serves as a Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the National University of Arts (UNA) in Buenos Aires. Former director of the Mendoza Philharmonic Orchestra; he has served as music director of the Bahia Blanca Symphony Orchestra, the Córdoba Symphony Band, and the Buenos Aires Symphony Band.
Maestro Fontana has guest conducted the major orchestras of Argentina such as the Stable Orchestra of Teatro Colón, the National Symphony, Buenos Aires Philarmonic, Mendoza Philarmonic, Santa Fe Symphony, Cordoba Symphony, and several orchestras abroad such as Montevideo Philharmonic, Porto Alegre Symphony, Walbrzych Philarmonic, Kielce Philarmonic, Pazardzhik Symphony, Belo Horizonte Symphony, Brasilia Symphony, Sao Paulo Symphony, National Orchestra of Venezuela, among others.
Gustavo Kadekjian has studied with Cristóbal Soler (Spain) and Milan Nachev (Bulgaria). He has collaborated with artists from diverse backgrounds, such as Pinchas Zukerkman, John Malkovich, Amanda Forsyth, Xavier Inchausti, Pablo Saraví, Aristo Sham, Ivan Rutkauskas, Øysten Baadsvik, Mariano Rey, Stanimir Todorov, Steven Mead, Carlos Céspedes, Pacho Flores, Jorge de la Vega, Cristoph Hartmann, Martin Kuuskman, Darío Volonté, Chango Spasiuk, Jaime Torres, Guillermo Fernández, Ricardo Mollo, Elena Roger, Pedro Aznar, Juan Carlos Baglietto, Eleonora Cassano, Hernán Piquín, Leo Maslíah, Anna Miernik among others.
Very active as a professor of musical education, he held the position of National Coordinator of PSOIJ of the Ministry of Culture of Argentina, and actively collaborates with institutions and universities worldwide.
He began his musical career as a member of the Children Choir of Teatro Colón, where he participated in productions with artists like Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. He later studied the trumpet at the National Conservatory of Music, under the guidance of Osvaldo Lacunza. In 1995/96 took lessons with Raymond Mase (Juilliard School of Music), Robert Sullivan (NY Phil), and John Wallace (Royal Academy of Music).
As a professional trumpet player he was a member of the New York Youth Symphony in 1996. He also joined the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra during the Latin American tour of 1993, under the direction of Zubin Mehta. At home, he was part of the Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra, the Opera Orchestra of Teatro Colón, and the National Symphony Orchestra as an associate principal trumpet.
Since 2018, he is working in collaboration with the Piazzolla Foundation, for the revision and international dissemination of the entire symphonic works that Astor Piazzolla composed for orchestra in all its variants (string, chamber, and symphonic) and has been the manager of the Show Production Association 3×8 Producciones, with whom he has designed various projects such as the show “Sinfónico.AR” and in collaboration with Professor Fernando Signorini (Diego Maradona’s personal trainer throughout his life), the talk entitled “Music and Football – Encounter of Two Passions”.
In the 2025 season he has commitments with the OSN, ONMA and OETALP, a concert with his orchestra “Los Solistas de Buenos Aires” in the main hall of the Teatro Colón, in addition to several projects abroad, highlighting those in Madrid, Valencia, Hong Kong and Panamá.
