Dr. Rubén Darío Gómez
Office: Dunham Hall Rm 1118
(618) 650‑2015
rgomezp@siue.edu
rubendariogomez.net
Rubén Darío Gómez is the current Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Music at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. His responsibilities include teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in conducting as well as leading the SIUE Wind Symphony. He is also the coordinator of the SIUE Bi-State Honor Band Festival and an active participant in the composition studio.
Originally from Colombia, Dr. Gómez earned his DMA degree in wind band conducting and secondary area in composition at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, as well as his Master of Music at Middle Tennessee State University, and his Bachelor of Music at Universidad Industrial de Santander (Colombia).
Prior to his appointments in the United States, he taught at two universities in his country for twelve years and worked as a national advisor in the band program for the Ministry of Culture, as well as a music director of his own school of music, Corporación Cultural Mochila Cantora. He has developed a career as a composer, conductor, adjudicator, and pedagogue, that is widely recognized in his country and in many Latin American countries. His pieces have been performed and published in Colombia, Europe and in the U.S. He has conducted bands and orchestras in Colombia, Peru, and in the United States. Some important awards include: National Music Prize in Composition (Colombia 2012), National Scholarship for Colombians studying abroad (2016), and the American Student Composer Competition held by the Met Winds in Boston (2019). He is a recipient of the Hixon-Lied Fellowship and the F. Pace Woods Scholarship, offered by the Hixon-Lied College of Performing Arts at UNL.
