Diego
Navarro
Fimucité Artistic Director, Composer & Principal Orchestra Conductor
Award-winning composer and conductor Diego Navarro is considered one of the most relevant voices in film music in Spain, consolidated as a internationally key artist in the genre in his various fields: as a composer specialised in fillm music, a conductor and an active promoter of the genre.
His filmography includes successful, multi-award-winning titles such as the Goya winning feature length animated films “Mariposas Negras” (David Baute) and “Atrapa la Bandera” (Enrique Gato) or “The Photographer of Mauthausen” (Mar Targarona), to name but a few.
In 2007, he founded the Festival Internacional de Música de Cine de Tenerife, FIMUCITÉ, which he has directed ever since. FIMUCITÉ is the longest-running festival in its genre in the world, with over 18 consecutive editions. Diego has conducted a huge number of World Premieres of importance, both from Hollywood and Europe.
Worth highlighting are the historic official concerts celebrating the centenary of Universal Pictures Studios (FIMUCITÉ), the centenary of ASCAP (American Society of Composers Authors & Publishers) at the FMF in Krakow, the DreamWorks Animation Studios concert (FIMUCITÉ), the 40th anniversary of Hollywood film music label Varèse Sarabande (Edinburgh – Glasgow tour) and the official concert of HBO and NETFLIX (FMF in Krakow).
In 2022, he made his successful debut at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, conducting the premiere of the 40th Anniversary Suite of “Conan the Barbarian” in the presence of its director, John Milius, and introduced by Francis Ford Coppola and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Diego Navarro has had the pleasure of working with great masters of the genre such as Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore, Elliot Goldenthal, Michael Giacchino, Christopher Young, Patrick Doyle, Dario Marianelli, Jan Kaczmarek, Bruno Coulais and Antón García Abril, among others.
Today, he is considered one of the most internationally reputable figures in the field of music conducting for cinema, having conducted top-tier symphony orchestras such as the Royal Scottish National Orchestra & Choir (RSNO), Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra, Bordeaux and Aquitaine National Opera Orchestra, Paris Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Film Orchestra, Krakow Symphony Orchestra, Aukso Orchestra, Tenerife Symphony Orchestra and the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, to name but a few. Also, he has an extensive cinematographic repertoire conducting classics by Ennio Morricone, Bernard Herrmann, Alex North, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, John Barry, George Delerue, Maurice Jarre or Phillipe Sarde to great praise from both national and international audiences and critics.
Also worthy of note is his conducting of the Krakow Film Music Festival's 10th Anniversary Concert in 2017 and the “Space Gala” in May 2023, where the maestro conducted, among other scores, the world premiere of “Avatar, The Way of Water” in the presence of its composer Simon Franglen. On the occasion of this concert, Polish TV channel “Play Krakow” produced and premiered a documentary focused on the figure of the Canarian maestro, loved and admired by the Polish audience and one of the main guest conductors of the festival since 2009. The film can be enjoyed online under the title “Diego Navarro Space Gala”. In 2015, the Krakow FMF awarded the maestro with the “Ambassador Award”.
In November 2024, he had a hugely successful debut in Chicago, bringing Coppola's “Bram Stoker's Dracula” back to life with “Dracula in Concert” (American Premiere), conducting the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chicago Chamber Choir at the legendary Auditorium Theatre, in an exclusive co-production between FIMUCITÉ and the Krakow FMF. That same month, he travelled to Rome as the official conductor, as chosen by Paramount Pictures, for the recording and filming of the Concert Suite from Gladiator II, by Harry Gregson-Williams, for its World Premiere.
December 2024 saw the release of the composer's most recent works: features Super Klaus and Mariposas Negras, both nominated for Best Animated Film at the 2025 Goya Awards (Spanish Oscars). Mariposas Negras took the award, adding to its long list of awards, in the same category, at the Forqué, Gaudí, Platino and Quirino Awards. Navarro received the 2025 Cygnus Award, given by the Universidad Alcalá de Henares, for Best Score, also for Mariposas Negras, a recognition that defends important values such as sustainability and solidarity.
He has recently been involved in writing music for various projects, such as the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra's commission to create a piece to close its traditional Christmas Concert, which was highly acclaimed on December 25th, and the animated project Shadow Play, which is yet to be released.
Among his 2025 projects is the animated feature film "Winnipeg, the Ship of Hope" (Elio Quiroga and Beñat Beitia). This international co-production (Spain-Chile) tells the epic story of the French ship that Chilean poet Pablo Neruda chartered to help 2,500 Spaniards flee the Spanish Civil War to Chile. The composer's schedule also includes other live-action projects, which will be announced soon.
The award-winning composer and conductor combines his career scoring films, directing FIMUCITÉ, and film music concerts performed under his baton, both at his festival and at other film events around the world.
Navarro is a member of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain, Musimagen, and SGAE (Sociedad General de Autores y Editores de España). In July 2024, the American Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (the Oscars), invited him to become a part of AMPAS, their renowned institution.
In 2022, the Council of Santa Cruz de Tenerife awarded him their highest distinction, the Gold Medal of the City, in recognition of his contribution to culture, in the field of music, as well as that of the promotion and prestige of his hometown. In March 2025, he was honoured to be invited to an official event to receive the title of “Illustrious Son of the Island of Tenerife”.
Official website:
http://www.diegonavarro.com
Facebook artist page:
www.facebook.com/Diego-Navarro-Composer-Conductor...
Youtube channel:
www.youtube.com/channel/UChz...
FIMUCITÉ channel:
www.youtube.com/channel/UCasJp...
