A welcome guest with orchestras around the world, Enrique Barrios has conducted in Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Czech Republic, Russia, Ireland, Hungary, United States, Canada, South America and Mexico. The impressive list of orchestras he has led during the last twenty years includes the Berlin and San Diego Symphonies, the National Orchestra of the Capitole de Toulouse, the National Orchestra of Ireland, the Symphony Orchestra of Edmonton, The Geselschaft Orchestra at the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Czech Philharmonic and several orchestras of the BBC in Great Britain including the BBC Philharmonic.

Barrios is equally at home conducting opera. For a number of years he was Music Director of the Bellas Artes Opera in Mexico and  has conducted  with the State Opera of Moscow, State Opera of Hungary, State Opera of Prague and the Opera of Northern Ireland as well as ballet with the American Ballet Theater of New York. Ramon Vargas, the great Mexican tenor, has shown great enthusiasm for the work of Barrios and has invited him to conduct concerts, tours and recordings on more than forty occasions.

In Mexico, he has served as Music Director of the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra, Aguascalientes Symphony and the Aguascalientes Opera, Associate Conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra of UNAM, Director of the Bellas Artes Theater Orchestra and of the National Opera, as well as a the Bellas Artes Chamber Orchestra. As Music director of both the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bellas Artes Chamber Orchestra, he made yearly tours to Europe,  to the United States, South America and the Far East. In the United States he served as Associate Director of the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, in Texas.

Barrios has been elected by musicians for most of the positions he has held. Triumphs during his recent tenures include the performance in the course of the 2006 season of all fifteen Shostakovich Symphonies which was followed in 2007 by performances of all nine Mahler Symphonies.

In 2008, he was appointed music director of the Morelia International Festival of Music and in July 2009, due to all successful tenures, he was named, by the Mexican government, General Director of the Mexican National System of Music, highest responsibility in the Mexican music world.

Enrique Barrios has made recordings for a number of major record companies including Philips, Sony, Polygram, BMG Classics and NAXOS. His many awards include being named Conductor of the Year by the Association of Mexican Critics and winning the “Hispanic Artist Fellowship" auditions in the United States.