Biography

IRWIN HOFFMAN, Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia assumed the post in 2000. During the period 1987 to 2001 he was the Artistic Director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, group that he took on tour to the Far East, North America and Europe in several occasions.

IRWIN HOFFMAN was also Artistic Director and Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Santiago, Chile; the Flagstaff Festival for the Arts and the Florida Orchestra that he conducted for several years since its founding in 1968.

Prior to his position in Florida, IRWIN HOFFMAN was Acting Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra following a period as Associate Conductor. He went to Chicago following a position as Music Director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in Canada which he held for twelve seasons.

For four seasons IRWIN HOFFMAN served as Music Director of the Belgium Radio and TV Symphony Orchestra. He toured Poland with the orchestra including performances during the Warsaw’s Autumn Festival of Contemporary Music.

He has guest conducted some of the world’s finest orchestras including the BBC Symphony Orchestras of England, Scotland and Wales, London Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Radio Symphony of Strasbourg, Poznan Philharmonic, Orchestre de Liege, CBC Toronto, Winnipeg and Kitchener orchestras and the Israel Philharmonic, among many others.

In Central and South America IRWIN HOFFMAN has conducted the Orquestra Sinfónica Brasileira, Sodre Orchestra (Uruguay), National Orchestras of Peru and El Salvador, National Symphony of Argentina, the UNAM of Mexico city and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Caracas, Venezuela.

In the United States IRWIN HOFFMAN has conducted the orchestras of St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, Honolulu, Buffalo, Ravinia Festival and Grant Park, among others.

Born in New York City, IRWIN HOFFMAN began playing the violin and piano at the age of six. A graduate of Juilliard School of Music, he spent summers studying with Serge Koussevitzki at the Berkshire Music Festival.