The Unió Musical de Llíria, with its Wind Band, was founded in 1903. Currently the Banda Sinfónica is made up of more than 150 musicians including amateurs, students and professionals who began studying music in our music school or our Colegio-Centro Integrado.

The Band has performed in Spain’s major cities on numerous occasions. Particularly worthy of note is its participation in the closing ceremony of the Barcelona Olympic Games and the Exposición Universal de Sevilla in 1992. It was the first band to perform in the Auditorio de Ministerio de Información y Turismo (1968) and the Teatro Real de Madrid (1983).

It has completed 12 international tours in which it has performed in the major capitals of Europe as well as in the USA, Mexico, Vatican City, Japan, Cuba and Venezuela.

It has performed accompanied by some of the most famous soloists in the world such as the pianist Querol or, more recently, the trumpet players Rubén Simeó, Yturvides Vilchez and Arturo Sandoval, among others.

The Band has been directed by highly distinguished guest conductors such as maestros Palau, García Asensio, Ros Marbá, García Navarro, Carlos Santos, Bolet, Cervera Lloret, Cervera Collado, Magenti, Pirfano, Adam Ferrero, Brotons, Rubén Gimeno, Álvaro Albiach, José Miguel Rodilla, Jan Cober and Zubin Mehta.

The Unió Musical is the band which has won the CIBM Ciudad de Valencia the most times, with 46 first prizes. It was the first Spanish band to win the World Music Contest Kerkrade in 1962. It has won all possible prizes at the Certamen Internacional de Música Villa de Altea, as well as the Corbatín de Oro in recognition of its entire musical history. Consequently, with more than 60 first prizes from national and international contests, the Banda Sinfónica Unió Musical de Llíria is the wind band with the most prizes in Spain and, probably, the world.

Vicent Balaguer was born in Benaguasil. He studied violin and trumpet at the conservatories of Valencia and Barcelona, where he was taught by Vicente Campos, Juan Alós, Juan Llinares and Agustin León Ara.

When he was 18 years old he became a violin teacher at the CSM de Valencia. He taught at the conservatories of Torrent, Cullera, Superior de Castellón, Aragón, Balearic Islands and Valencia. He delivered master classes in China, Poland and Bulgaria. He was a violin teacher for the Joven Orquesta Nacional de España, the Joven Orquesta de la Generalitat Valenciana and the Joven Orquesta Nacional de Catalunya.

He was the concertmaster and founder of the Collegium Instrumentale de Valencia, and has collaborated with Félix Ayo, Yehudi Menuhin and Maurice Andre, among others.

He has performed as a soloist in many countries including France, Austria, Germany and Mexico.

He has appeared as guest concertmaster with many orchestras, including the Nacional de España, the Sinfónica de Barcelona, the Sinfónica de Navarra, the Comunidad de Madrid, the Sinfónica de A Coruña, the Orquesta de Valencia, the Sinfónica de Castilla y León, the Covent Garden Soloist and the Baltic Neopolis Orchestra, where he has worked with conductors such as Lorin Maazel, García Navarro, García Asensio, Yuri Temirkánov, Olaf Koch, Seji Oué, Walter Weller, Cristóbal Soler and Neville Marriner, among others.

He began conducting when he was 16 years old with the Joven Orquesta de la UMB de Benaguasil. He went on to direct the Orquesta del Conservatorio Superior de Valencia, the Orquesta Sinfónica de las Islas Baleares and the Grupo Contemporáneo de la JONC.

He was a guest conductor with the Orquesta de Valencia, the Sinfónica de Navarra, the Sinfónica de las Islas Baleares, and the Ciudad de Elche, where he collaborated with soloists such as Maria José Montiel, Vasko Vasilev, Rubén Simeó and Javier Balaguer.

In 2019 he won the Best Conductor Prize at the Certamen de Orquestas de Bankia.

Until 2022 he was the artistic director of the UM de Benaguasil, winning prizes at different contests with the Association’s wind band and orchestra.

He is currently solo violin of the Orquesta de Valencia and he has been the principal conductor of the Banda Sinfónica de la Unió Musical de Llíria since 2023.