Hisham Bravo Groover

Assistant Professor of Music

• Phone: 309-794-7411
• Email: hishambravogroover@augustana.edu
• Office: Bergendoff 28

Hisham Bravo Groover is the Director of Orchestral Studies and Violin instructor at Augustana College. Additionally, he serves as Assistant Conductor of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Quad City Symphony Youth Ensembles.

Before moving to the Quad Cities, Mr. Groover lived in Minnesota where he served as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonic Conductor of the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies (GTCYS), Music Director and Conductor of the Buffalo Community Orchestra, and Assistant Conductor of the University of Minnesota Symphony Orchestra and Opera Theatre. Additional experiences include roles as Associate Conductor of the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra (CO), Assistant Conductor of the Arapahoe Philharmonic (CO), Assistant Conductor of the Lamont Symphony Orchestra and Opera Theatre (CO), and Conductor of the University of Iowa Chamber Orchestra (IA).

Mr. Groover displays impressive versatility in his concerts, equally at ease with pops and educational programs as he is with masterworks. He has also conducted and assisted in numerous opera productions, including Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and Strauss Jr.’s Die Fledermaus. Thoughtful in his programming, he aims to create concerts that resonate with modern audiences. In 2024, he curated and conducted a program that integrated the music of Hildegard von Bingen, Steve Reich, and Charles Ives with Mozart’s Requiem.

Abroad, Mr. Groover has competed in two international conducting competitions. In 2023, he was invited to the 1st International Ferenc Fricsay Conducting Competition in Szeged, Hungary. In 2022, he was a semi-finalist in the Princess Astrid International Music Competition in Trondheim, Norway.

As a violinist, Mr. Groover studied with several pedagogues, including Michel Boris Zaitzeff, Ching-Yi Lin, and Mark Rush. As a conductor, he has had the privilege to study with Leonid Grin, Kevin Noe, William LaRue Jones, and his principal mentor, Mark Russell Smith.

Specializations: Orchestra, Violin