John W. Giovando

President & Executive Director

Mr. Giovando is the founder of the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Vail, Colorado, and has held the position of Executive Director since the Festival’s inception in 1989.  For the past 22 years, Mr. Giovando has led the Festival from a series of small concerts with only a handful of attendees to a seven week festival with more than 60,000 people in attendance. The Festival hosts three world-class resident orchestras--the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Rochester Philharmonic, along with the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, the National Repertory Orchestra, the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and more than 40 international solo artists performing the great chamber music and concerto literature.

In addition to the Bravo Festival, Mr. Giovando is the General Manager of the newly developed Ocean Reef Chamber Music Festival in Key Largo, Florida, which opens its third season January 2009.  He is also a consultant for the Avila Chamber Music Celebration, which opens its second season February 2009 in Curacao, the Dutch West Indies.

Mr. Giovando’s résumé includes General Director of New Mexico’s Music from Angel Fire for twenty-two seasons, and past Director of Development and Touring for the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. He received his high school education in Arizona and received bachelor degrees in literature and science from the University of Arizona in Tucson. He attended Chicago’s Kent College of Law and received a Juris Doctor from the University of Arizona College of Law. He is currently associated with Musical America, Chamber Music America, the National Endowment for the Arts, Colorado Council on the Arts, and the New Mexico Arts Division.  Mr. Giovando has been in the field of arts administration for the last 29 years and has raised six loving children. He currently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.