A virtuoso of the baton, an incurable optimist and a Krakow resident by choice. He has been with the Krakow Film Music Festival for years and is its ambassador. If he had not become a conductor, Diego Navarro would have surely been in space today as it was his obsession in childhood. Nothing is impossible for him; he inspires the orchestra with his facial expressions, honesty and authenticity and wins the audience’s hearts with his Spanish temperament.
Diego Navarro – a conductor from Tenerife, film music composer, e.g. for films such as Capture the Flag and The Photographer of Mauthausen – is a regular collaborator with the Krakow Film Music Festival where he has been performing as a guest for many years and has been its ambassador for almost a decade.
There is a hidden part of his Krakow story: this is where his second small homeland is located. He loves Vistula and Wawel makes his heart beat faster. ‘I feel at home here’, he said to Małgorzata Rutkowska, a journalist for PLAY KRAKÓW, who watched his work behind the scenes.
The Playkrakow.com crew accompanied the artist during this year’s Film Music Festival when Diego Navarro conducted the Beethoven Academy Orchestra as part of the Space Gala concert. At that Gala, the audience could hear the themes of the second part of Avatar, Gravity and Solaris among others.
He wanted to be an astronaut but became a conductor
Diego Navarro started out as a conductor in his teenage years even though he was fascinated by the cosmos as a child and wanted to be an astronaut or an astrophysicist. However, things turned out differently and, instead of standing on Mars or on the Moon, he stood on a big stage. He started to perform at the age of 13. Not even 10 years later, he conducted his first orchestra.
As a conductor, Diego Navarro is able to make an orchestra do absolutely anything. According to those who had an opportunity to perform with him, his facial expressions motivate the musicians to make more effort. They add that the way he moves his body makes them more committed and stress that there is some salsa in these movements.
Diego Navarro has his faithful fans in all parts of the world. One of them said: “I love it when he is conducting. He helps me interpret the music”. He never goes on stage without his baton (which he calls his Excalibur, referring to the famous sword from Arthurian legends) and a towel. They are his entire stage arsenal he has been using to conquer people’s hearts for decades.
