Dr. Gabriela Mora-Fallas Biography

Costa Rican conductor Gabriela Mora-Fallas is an educator, artistic leader, and community advocate whose work has included collaborations with professional, university, youth, and community orchestras throughout the United States and Latin America. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Texas at Austin and has built her career around artistic excellence, meaningful audience engagement, and creating opportunities for musicians of all backgrounds. 

Gabriela believes that community orchestras occupy a unique and vital place in today’s cultural landscape. They bring together people from different professions, experiences, and generations through a shared commitment to making music at a high level. As a conductor, she strives to create rehearsals that are focused, collaborative, and rewarding—where musicians feel both challenged and supported, and where every member of the ensemble plays an important role in shaping the artistic result. 

Her connection with Austin Civic Orchestra grew through collaborations with Austin Soundwaves and ACO’s Chamber Music Scholarship Program. Through these experiences, she came to admire the orchestra’s musical standards, welcoming culture, and commitment to serving the Austin community. These qualities strongly align with her own values as an artist and educator. She believes that the strongest orchestras pursue artistic excellence while building meaningful connections with audiences and the communities they serve. 

As a finalist for Music Director, Gabriela looks forward to meeting and making music with ACO’s musicians to build inspiring performances, explore a broad range of repertoire, and strengthen the orchestra’s role within the community. Her goal is to create performances that musicians find rewarding, audiences find meaningful, and the organization finds both artistically ambitious and deeply connected to the people it serves.

Gabriela received her DMA in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Texas at Austin, a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from the Boston Conservatory, and a Bachelor of Music -Violin Performance from the National Institute of Music, Costa Rica.