Juanjo Mena has announced his retirement from the podium due to health reasons.

In a letter, he announced that his Alzheimer’s has progressed.

He said, “Dear friends, As you may remember, over a year ago I shared with you some news regarding my health. Tests carried out a few months beforehand revealed that I was beginning to show symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Using a musical simile, I already knew then that of all the scores I had conducted so far, this part was going to be the most difficult to perform. And I have been proven right. The illness has progressed since I made that announcement, and it has affected me. My situation is different than it was a year ago and it calls for some important decisions to be made. I now feel that the time has come to say goodbye to my work on the podium. Every score has an ending, and the final bars of this one have been written. This year’s concerts will be the last I conduct. This decision was a difficult one to make, as you can imagine, but one I have considered carefully and wanted to share with you today.”

He added, “One more thing. I would like to take the opportunity and turn my upcoming farewell concerts into an expression of gratitude and above all, a celebration. My conducting career has spanned forty wonderful years, and I have a lot to be thankful for. First and foremost, to my family, for their continuous support and infinite patience with me. And secondly, to all of you who have supported me: the public, every orchestra, and each and every one of the musicians and people with whom I have had the honour and pleasure of working. These will be some of my favourite memories: making good music together and having a great time doing it. And finally, I would like to make a request. As I have always said, music is an exchange of energy, an intangible mysterious current flowing back and forth between musicians and listeners. Let’s make every concert a true celebration with music at the heart of it; music as the reason for people to gather in solidarity and friendship. Until next time, Juanjo Mena”

Mena will continue to conduct select performances including the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra on March 21 and 22 featuring Schubert’s Great Symphony.

Mena began his conducting career in his native Spain as Artistic Director of the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra in 1999 and has went on to conduct the Bergen Philharmonic, Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Cincinnati May Festival, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Montreal Symphony and Toronto Symphony Orchestras.

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