Spanish-born conductor Alberto Hold-Garrido was raised in Denmark. He studied choral and orchestral conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen and later at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where he was part of the legendary conducting class of Jorma Panula. He also studied with Sergiu Celibidache in Mainz.

After graduating in 1994, Hold-Garrido became assistant conductor at the Finnish National Opera, leading productions of I due Foscari, Salome, La Traviata, and Il Barbiere di Siviglia, among others. During this period, he worked with directors such as August Everding, Götz Friedrich, and Giancarlo del Monaco.

From 2001 to 2003, he succeeded Leif Segerstam as Music Director and Principal Conductor in Stockholm, where he conducted operas including Der fliegende Holländer, Rheingold, Otello, Cavalleria Rusticana / I Pagliacci, Carmen, Carmina Burana, Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor, and Il Barbiere di Siviglia. A highlight was Don Carlo with Hillevi Martinpelto and Peter Mattei, which was recorded to critical acclaim. He also led a 1998 tour of Norma to Deutsche Oper Berlin, starring Marina Mesheriakova.

A respected figure in Scandinavian opera, Hold-Garrido has conducted new productions of La Rondine in Helsinki, Tannhäuser in Stockholm, and Tosca at Denmark’s Hedeland Festival. He returned frequently to the Savonlinna Opera Festival for Aida, Rigoletto, Norma, and Lucia di Lammermoor. At the Finnish National Opera, he led Norma staged by Renata Scotto, as well as Salome and a jump-in performance of Andrea Chénier directed by Giancarlo del Monaco. His later engagements included Carmen in Helsinki and Tosca in Stockholm.

From 2013 to 2018, Hold-Garrido served as Principal Conductor of the Kuopio City Orchestra. Beyond Scandinavia, he conducted La Traviata and Il Trovatore at Welsh National Opera, Macbeth in Santiago de Chile, Norma and Ernani in St. Gallen, Salome at Novaya Opera in Moscow, and a gala of Alfredo Keil’s opera rarities in Lisbon. He also led La bohème in Graz and Tosca in Weimar.

Recent seasons have included Les contes d’Hoffmann in Malmö, La Traviata in Stockholm, La Fanciulla del West in Helsinki, Turandot in Trondheim, and Norma at the Estonian National Opera. He also conducted Attila in Santiago de Chile, Aida in Toulon, and revivals of Carmen and Turandot in Helsinki.

More recently, he led Nabucco at Tampere Opera, Un ballo in maschera and La Gioconda in Malmö, and returned to Tampere with La bohème in 2019 and Carmen in 2020, in a new staging by Marco Bjurström. His 2021/22 season featured symphonic concerts in Finland and a double bill of I Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana at the Finnish National Opera.