Dr. James Brooks-Bruzzese was born in Panama in a bilingual home — his mother born in Colombia and his late father a member of the United States Armed Forces. He received his doctorate in Opera Conducting and Musicology from Washington University in St. Louis and coached with the great Pablo Casals. Maestro Brooks-Bruzzese performs his artistic mastery stirring audiences at the most prestigious venues worldwide. To name a few, the Berlin Symphony, the famed Vigado Theater in Budapest, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; Natal Philharmonic, Johannesburg and Pretoria Symphonies and the Capetown Opera Company, all in South Africa, Xalapa Symphony in Mexico, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and toured the former Soviet Union under the auspices of Gosconcert. He is the first American to conduct the National Orchestra of Pleven, Bulgaria and presented with the official medal of the city.

Brooks-Bruzzese, the international maestro who calls South Florida home, has carried the fine artistic reputation of the Symphony to the great cultural capitals of the world as well as to rural areas, schools and conservatories. This in an effort to bring the highest quality live music and interpreters to a most diverse audience.

A result of his studies with eminent conductors Leonard Slatkin, now director of the National Symphony Orchestra, and Richard Karp of the Pittsburgh Opera, is clearly evident in his mentoring efforts as the founder of the Augusta Opera, the Florida Music Festival and SUMMERFEST, now in its sixteenth summer season. This major music festival takes place in Europe, the eastern seaboard of the United States and numerous countries of Latin America.

As part of his commitment to our youth Maestro takes time to bring the highest quality music education programming to young people at home and abroad.

Brooks twenty-two recordings include Seasons of Change with the Hungarian Virtuosi, Crazy for Gershwin and Hollywood Favourites with the Xalapa Symphony, Echoes of Habsburg with Capella Istropolitana, Scent of Tango and Alpine Romanze with the Arpeggione Chamber Orchestra, to name a few. He records with Pickwick Records in London under the Hallmark & Orchid Labels as well as the Symphony’s own label.

Maestro is the First Hispanic to: successfully tour the former Soviet Union, conduct at the famed Vigado Theater in Budapest, the prestigious Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. He is also the First Hispanic to bring music education programs from the United States to young children in Latin America.

The Hispanic Heritage Foundation honored Maestro Brooks at the Kennedy Center with their 2005 Hispanic Heritage Award for the Arts in recognition of his lifelong work as a world-renowned conductor as well as his dedication to promoting classical music to youth as an educator throughout the world. James Brooks-Bruzzese has been recognized by elected officials in the State of Florida, heads of state and dignitaries all over the world, receiving the Critics Choice Award at the Villa Lobos Festival in Brazil. President Ronald Reagan praised Maestro as an “Ambassador to Latin America for his exceptional musical talents and diplomatic skills.