In 1901, Valencia City Councilor, journalist and art critic, Vicente Ávalos Ruiz, proposed to Salvador Giner—who was considered to be the highest musical authority of the time—the creation of a Municipal Band under the direction of Santiago Lope who conducted the Municipal Band in their first concert 8 December 1903.

Under maestro Lope’s leadership, the Valencian group achieved countless successes, including three First Prizes at the Bilbao International Festival in 1905.

Over the years the Banda Municipal has had many principal conductors, including maestros Lope, Vega, Ayllón, Seguí, Palanca, Ferríz, Garcés, Ribelles, Sánchez Torrella, Bonete Piqueras, Rafael Sanz-Espert, Miquel Rodrigo i Tamarit and its current conductor, Cristóbal Soler.

The Banda Municipal gives numerous performances every year. Worthy of special mention are those in the Palau de la Música concert cycles, the June concerts held in the Palau's gardens, and those in outlying areas of the city, smaller towns in the Valencia Region and several European cities, in addition to their participation in official City Council events.

In 2002, Valencia City Council agreed to award the Banda Municipal the Medalla de Oro de la Ciudad to commemorate the Band’s centenary.

In 2003, at the request of the Minister of Education, Culture and Sport, and following deliberation by the Council of Ministers, the Banda Municipal de València was awarded the “Corbata de la Orden Civil de Alfonso X El Sabio”.

In 2005 the Band completed a hugely successful tour of Japan, where they took part in the 2005 Japan Band Clinic and further increased their already considerable international prestige.

The Banda Municipal also holds the Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes, the highest honor awarded by the Spanish State, and the Alta Distinción al Mérito Cultural award from the Valencia Regional Government.

Regarded as one of the most important conductors of his generation, Cristóbal Soler has established a successful career conducting a broad repertoire of both symphonic and operetta works. Reviews have always emphasized his charisma and the depth of his performance, as well as the precision and strength of his conducting technique. He studied the great central European repertoire of the 19th and 20th centuries with great directors such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Wolfgang Sawallisch, George Prêtre, Vladimir Fedoseyev and Mariss Jansons.

During his six seasons as principal conductor of the Teatro de la Zarzuela de Madrid, he directed new productions such as El Gato Montés; Los Diamantes de la Corona (nominated for the International Opera Awards 2015); the modern-day premiere of Galanteos en Venecia (nominated for the Premios Max, 2016).

In the field of opera he has conducted works such Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, Cosí fan tutte, La Traviata, Rigoletto, L´elisir d´amore, Don Pascuale, La Sonambula, Carmen, Aida, Le Roi d'Ýs, Mireille, La Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein and Werther. He has collaborated with theater directors such as Graham Vick, Pier Luigi Pizzi, José Carlos Plaza, Emilio Sagi and Paco Mir, and worked in theaters such as the Maestranza de Sevilla, the Teatro Campoamor de Oviedo, the Teatro de Ópera de Sâo Carlos de Lisboa, the Festival de A Coruña, and the Palau de les Arts de Valencia.

He was born in Alcásser (Valencia), and began studying orchestra conducting and symphonic band with his maestro and mentor, José Mª Cervera Collado. He was the musical-artistic director and the founder of the Orquesta Filarmónica de la Universidad de Valencia (1995-2010) with which he won First Prize in the Concurso Internacional de Jóvenes Orquestas Sinfónicas, held in Vienna in 1998.

He has been invited to conduct the most important Spanish orchestras and symphonic bands, including: the Orquesta and Coro de RTVE; the OBC Nacional de Cataluña; the Orquesta de Valencia; the municipal symphonic bands of Madrid, Barcelona and Mallorca; the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia; the Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid; the Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao; the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla; the Sinfónica de Castilla y León; the Sinfónica de Navarra; the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, and the JONDE.

He has conducted concerts with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra (Victoria Hall in Geneva and Salle Metrópol in Lausanne). He has also completed several national and international tours: in Austria (Mozarteum in Salzburg; Austria Center in Vienna); France; Portugal (O. Sinfónica Nacional, O. Metropolitana de Lisboa); the USA; Poland; Czechia; Slovenia; Romania; Cuba; Venezuela (O. Municipal de Caracas); Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.

He is the founding president of AESDO and the artistic director of the Semana de Música Religiosa de Cuenca (2016-2020). In 2019 he was appointed artistic and musical director of the CullerArts Ferstival and was the president of the Concurso Internacional de Violín CullerArts. In 2020 he was the artistic director of the Concurso Internacional de Dirección de Orquesta, Lliria, City of Music.

He is currently the Artistic-Musical Director of the Banda Sinfónica Municipal de Valencia and the Joven Orquesta Sinfónica de la Federación de las Sociedades Musicales de la Comunidad Valenciana.