Conductor
Dayner Tafur-Díaz was born in Chimbote, Peru, in 1998 and began his musical training as a trumpeter in the “DaCapo” project at the Centro Cultural Centenario. From a young age, he was awarded a scholarship to join the “Arpegio”orchestra project, where he gained his first experience as a conductor.
In September 2017, after moving to Germany for a volunteer program in Berlin, he assisted conductor Knut Andreas in leading various ensembles and youth orchestras at the Musikgymnasium Georg-Friedrich Händel.
In 2018, he began his studies in orchestral and choral conducting at the Berufsfachschule für Musik Mittelfranken, specializing in conducting under the guidance of Uwe Münch.
In October 2023, he won the German Conducting Award, presented jointly by the WDR Symphony Orchestra, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, and the Opernstudio der Oper Köln. He also received the Kurt Masur Prize, awarded by the audience, as well as the Bärenreiter Prize for the best interpretation of a contemporary composition.
In August 2022, he won First Prize at the Second International Opera Conducting Competition of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège (Belgium), and in November 2022, he received Second Prize at the Conducting Competition of the University of Almería (Spain).
In June 2024, he participated in the Ammodo Conducting Masterclass with Paavo Järvi and the Concertgebouworkest. Previously, he had attended masterclasses with Michael Riedel, Thomas Mittelberger, Giampaolo Bisanti, and Bruno Weil, as well as having participated in the Campus Dirigieren 2021 and the Kritisches Orchester 2023 at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin.
Among the orchestras Dayner Tafur-Díaz has performed with are: WDR Sinfonieorchester, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse, Opéra de Tours, Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, Philharmonie Baden-Baden, Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz, Badische Philharmonie Pforzheim, and Juan Diego Flórez’s “Sinfonía por el Perú” orchestra.
As an opera assistant, he worked with Giampaolo Bisanti on productions of Alzira (Verdi) and La Sonnambula(Bellini), as well as with Christopher Franklin on the production of Die Zauberflöte (Mozart) at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège.
Starting in October 2024/25, he became the new assistant conductor to chief conductor Kirill Petrenko at the Berlin Philharmonic and a Karajan Academy fellow, after winning the Siemens Conductor Scholarship in June 2024. During the same season, he was also a Dudamel Fellow at the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Since October 2019, Dayner Tafur-Díaz has been studying orchestral conducting at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart under the guidance of Professor Rasmus Baumann. Since 2023, he has also been a Forum Dirigieren fellow of the Deutscher Musikrat.
Among his projects, he will conduct in 2025/26 : La Traviata (Verdi) at the Rouen Opera House, the Badische Staatskapelle Karlsruhe, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the Slovene National Theatre Maribor, the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana, the Gävle Symphony Orchestra, the Münchner Symphoniker, the WDR Funkhausorchester, and the Youth Orchestra of the Community of Madrid.
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Photo credit: Jonathan Berger ORW – Liège