About

Diego Hernandez is a multifaceted, emerging conductor passionate about bringing together people of diverse talents to enrich their communities through music. As the first music director of Google’s employee orchestra, the Googler Orchestra, he was nationally recognized as a finalist for the American Prize in Orchestral Conducting (community division) and the American Prize in Orchestral Programming (non-professional division). He earned a Master of Music degree in orchestral conducting, with program honors, at Northwestern, where he also music directed its University Philharmonia for two years. In November 2025, Diego began two new positions in Fort Myers, Florida as the Conductor of the Gulf Coast Youth Orchestra and the Assistant Conductor of the Gulf Coast Symphony.

Increasingly in demand as a guest conductor, Diego’s 2025–26 season includes debut performances with Savoynet (performing in Buxton, England), Opera Aeterna (Chicago), Frost Opera Theater (Miami), and the Rush University Medical Center Choir (Chicago). Other ensembles Diego has conducted in performance include the Eastern Festival Orchestra; the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, and Opera Theatre; the Stanford Light Opera Company; the Stanford Wind Symphony during its 2018 European tour; and the Stanford Summer Symphony.

An active proponent of music education, Diego regularly serves as a guest clinician for orchestra classes in southwest Florida, as a component of his outreach work with the Gulf Coast Symphony. In addition, Diego pioneered the Googler Orchestra’s educational programming and has since 2023 served on the board of Music for Minors, a California-based nonprofit that provides quality music classes to Bay Area schools. 

Outside of conducting, Diego has a multifaceted background that includes a four-year tenure as a software engineer at Google and a Master of Science degree in computer science from Stanford. He is also an award-winning freelance clarinetist who has performed as a concerto competition winner with the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra and has received the Stanley Drucker Award from the Buffet Crampon USA Summer Clarinet Academy. A native of Tallahassee, Florida, he had many of his formative experiences as a clarinetist in school band programs, the Tallahassee Youth Orchestras, and the Florida All-State Ensembles.

Photo credit: Natalie Gaynor (home page)