Maestro Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez has died at the age of 74.

The Spanish conductor was born on Sept. 17, 1949 to a family of musicians, his father was a professor in the Band of Granada, and his mother a pianist. As a child, he wanted to become a conductor and started to study music at the age of four.

At the age of five, he passed the examination at the Victoria Eugenia Music Conservatory of Granada, and at the age of seven in 1957 he started conducting. By 13, he received the title of piano professor at the Music Conservatory of Granada and at 17, he won the ‘Extraordinary Prize’ in composition at the Music Conservatory of Madrid.

In 1964, he moved to Madrid and got his First Class Diploma and the Price of the Conservatory in the final course. He continued his studies in Vienna and in 1973, he made his debut as a conductor at Sankt Pölten near Vienna.

He went on to conduct in Lucerne and Berlin as well as in Spain where he debuted in 1975 at the International Music and Dance Festival.

Throughout his career, he held many prominent positions including Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of such orchestras as the Vienna State Opera, the Spanish Radio Television Symphony Orchestra (RTVE), Chief Conductor, the Teatro de la Zarzuela, Chief Conductor of the Euskadi Orchestra, General Music Director of the City of Mannheim, Musical and Artistic Director of the New Finnish National Opera, Chief Conductor of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, General Music Director of the Theatre of Bern, Director of the National Theatre in Mannheim, and Musical Director of the Easter Festival Orchestra in Bayreuth.

He went on to conduct such important artists as Boris Chistoff, Birgit Nilson, Alfredo Kraus, Luciano Pavarotti, Montserrat Caballé, Plácido Domingo, and Leo Nucci.

He also won numerous prizes including the Gold Medal of the City of Granada, the Encomienda de Número of the Order of Civil Merit, the Ministry of Culture of the State of Bavaria, and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Granada and a Member of Honour.