About this Artist

Nuanced interpretations, dynamic energy, and a charismatic stage presence are hallmarks of Cuban conductor JESSICA ALTARRIBA. Praised for her communicative skills and impactful performances, and equally vested in both established and well-known repertoire and contemporary compositions, Altarriba currently serves as Assistant Conductor for the Utah Symphony | Utah Opera and is a Taki Alsop Fellowship Award Recipient (2024–2026). Altarriba is concurrently pursuing her Master’s in Conducting at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.

Altarriba programs and leads a diverse set of concerts in the upcoming 2025. June 23–July 1, she will be conducting the Summer-Community Concerts, alongside the “Deer Valley Music Festival” (Utah), including the July 16 Chamber Series “Mozart vs Salieri” and “Tchaikovsky’s 1812” concert closing the Festival. July 28–August 5, she participates in the YOLA Festival in California, collaborating with LA Phil Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel, YOLA Artistic Director Gaudy Sanchez, and the YOLA National Team in festival programming and conducting a final concert in collaboration with Dudamel.

Upcoming 2025–26 engagements include:

Sept 14: Assisting Virginia Symphony for their Opening Season week program

Oct 1: Conducts special concert “Halloween Spooktakular” (Utah)

Nov 12: “Salute to Youth Concert” featuring the most talented young artists from Utah State

Nov 21: Pops Series “Dancing in the Street”

Nov 29: Messiah with soloists from Utah Opera

Dec 20: Holiday Pops “Here Comes Santa Claus”

Feb 13: Film Series Up

March 14: Family Series “Carnival of the Animals”

Recent engagements included the Utah Symphony, the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, New Jersey Symphony, Peabody Symphony Orchestra, NOI Institute, the National Seminario Orchestra–Ravinia, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and Lüneburg Symphoniker, Germany. Altarriba has also guested with Spain’s Malaga Camerata, Virtuous Mediterrani Orchestra, Lüneburg Symphoniker in Germany, and professional symphony orchestras in Cuba such as Holguín Symphony Orchestra, Camagüey Symphony Orchestra, Youth Symphony E. Salas, Philharmonic of the University of Arts, Chamber Orchestra National School of Art, Eastern Symphony Orchestra, Amadeo Roldán Orchestra, Lyceum Mozartiano Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of University of Arts, and Esteban Salas Symphony Orchestra. Of note is her performance with Havana-Martin Camerata, where she conducted incidental music for the national premiere of Phantom of the Opera. Altarriba’s festival credits include the NOI Festival and Ravinia Festival in the U.S.

Jessica Altarriba recently served as New Jersey Symphony’s first-ever Colton Conducting Fellow (2023–24 season), and is an alum of Chicago Sinfonietta’s Freeman Conducting Fellowship. She also served as Music Director of the University of Arts Band and the Eastern Symphony Orchestra in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. While living in Cuba, she was a member of Festival a Tempo con Caturla, JazzPlaza, Contemporary Music Festival, Mozart Habana Festival, and the Arts Festival, where she was awarded 1st prize for Young Conductors.

Born in Cuba, Altarriba received her Bachelor's degree in Conducting from the Arts University in Havana in 2018. During her time at the University of Arts, she gave world premieres of contemporary pieces: Calabi by Nathalie Hidalgo Reyes, and The Creation by Dania Suarez Piorno, in collaboration with the university’s Composition faculty. Altarriba is the recipient of an Excellence in Music Leadership Fellowship at The Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, where she is currently pursuing her Master’s in Orchestral Conducting under Maestra Marin Alsop.