Juanjo Mena, also known as Juan José Mena, is a Spanish conductor who has achieved international recognition working with orchestras in Europe and the United States. Educated at the Conservatorio Jesús Guridi in his home town of Vitoria-Gasteiz, he advanced to the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música in Madrid, where he studied composition and orchestration with Carmelo Bernaola, and conducting with Enrique García Asensio. He studied with
Sergiu Celibidache on a Guridi-Bernaolo Scholarship, and won the Ojo Critico Prize of Radio Nacional de España in 2002 for his work in contemporary music. He was chosen by the Basque government to form the Youth Orchestra of Euskal Herria and became the associate conductor of the
Euskadi Symphony Orchestra. He conducted the Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa and the Orchestra of the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, and in 2007 became the principal guest conductor of the
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2011 he became the chief conductor of the
BBC Philharmonic, though his appearances with other orchestras included the
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, the
Gothenburg Symphony, the
Dresden Philharmonic, and the
Orchestre National de France, as well as the
Philadelphia Orchestra, the
Houston Symphony, the
Los Angeles Philharmonic, the
Boston Symphony Orchestra, the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, among many others.
Mena has recorded for Naxos and Chandos.