He is a cellist born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to a musical family that have been professional classical musicians for four generations including his grandfather Harry Gomez being a violinist and violist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the founder of the Delta Youth Orchestra. His great grandfather Manuel Gomez was a clarinettist thought to be the musician being responsible for introducing the Boehm System of clarinet keys to the UK and founding member of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1904.
He studied at the University of Toronto where he earned his Bachelor of Music degree and after graduation worked with the Thunder Bay Symphony and the Windsor Symphony.
He became a member of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in 1983 and has performed for commercials and film scores as well as in many recordings.
As a chamber musician he has been a member of the Alberta Baroque Ensemble and Debut String Quartet, who were the fist finalists for Canada at the Banff International String Quartet Competition. He has also performed in chamber music performances with the ESO at the Art Gallery of Alberta.
Outside of his work as a cellist he is an award-winning web designer and creator for arts groups in Edmonton, including the websites for ESO and Winspear Centre, since 2000.
He performs here…
Sources:
- https://www.winspearcentre.com/more/about/about-eso/meet-the-musicians/strings/derek-gomez/
- https://www.albertabaroque.com/about-society/ensemble/derek-gomez-cello/
- https://luisandclark.com/derek-gomezs-carbon-fibre-cello-unique/
- https://www.youraga.ca/events-features/blog/edmonton-symphony-orchestra-aga