The first records of a group of musicians in Olleria date back to 1736 in Montaverner (Vall d'Albaida) and also to 1739 in Caudete (Albacete).

In the middle of the nineteenth century, two bands, "La Nova" and "La Vella", are known to have existed, but it was in 1880 when the "Santa Cecilia" band was founded and their first director was Fernando Sellés. The band took to the streets for the first time in January 1881.

In 1894 they won their first contest prize in Xàtiva under the direction of Fernando Sellés.

In 1946 Dionisio Pedro Estarelles took up the baton and was the Band's conductor for 30 years. Working with many young people, the Band won numerous prizes in Alcoi, Albaida, Ontinyent, Xàtiva and Alberic, among others.

In 1976 Liberto Benet became the group's conductor, giving new impetus to the Band by opening its membership to female musicians. He founded a music school, which also taught ballet and string instruments, and formed a youth band. During this period, the Band participated in various contests and won numerous prizes, including Second Prize in the International Wind Band Contest "City of Valencia" in 1981 and first prizes in Cullera, Ontinyent, Paiporta, Benicarló and Cocentaina, among others. The Band recorded a CD to celebrate their first centenary.

In 1988 Marcos Mompó y Mompó, a native of Olleria and one of the Band's musicians, took over as director. Since then the Band's activities have been diverse, including their participation in the Salzburg International Festival (Austria) and that in Bratislava (Slovakia). The Band has also taken part in festivals in Puig, Xixona, Montserrat and Canals, among others. In 1995 they recorded a CD of festival music.

In the year 2000 Aurelio Chorro Vila became the Band's director, under whose leadership they gave various concerts, including those in Peníscola and Ontinyent. During this period, and particularly worthy of note, is the Band's performance, together with the Association's Choir and El Bunyol Theater Company, of 'La Verbena de la Paloma', and their participation in a jazz concert with the Enclave Latin Jazz Trio in which Fine Arts students from Olleria also took part. They recorded a CD of festival music to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Moors and Christians festival in Olleria.

In 2005 the Association celebrated its 125th anniversary with a concert featuring previous directors of the Band. In 2007 the Band accompanied a screening of the film 'La Quimera del Oro', performing the sound track.

In 2007 the Band began a concert tour with guest conductors Óscar Vidal, Manolo Mondéjar, David González, and Pere Molina González, our current Principal Conductor.

In January 2009 the group performed a "Band a Band" concert-show with the legendary Basque group "Oskorri", which was a great success both in terms of audience numbers and press coverage. In October of the same year the Band gave a concert in the Valencia Palau de la Música with the collaboration of more than 200 singers from Valencian choirs. A DVD and a CD of this performance were recorded. In 2010, Enrique García Asensio took part in the V edition of the Olleria "Francisco Cerdà" Festival Music Contest both as a guest conductor and member of the jury.


BIOGRAPHY OF THE CONDUCTOR

Pere Molina González

Pere Molina González was born in Denia, Alicante in 1983. He is a conductor of both band and orchestra who studied in Italy, England, Hungary and Spain with maestros such as Jan Cober, George Hurst, Imnre Kollar, Enrique Bátiz, Henrie Adams, Alex Schillings, Juan Luis Martínez, José Rafael Pascual Vilaplana and Enrique García Asensio. He has been a guest conductor for different Spanish orchestras and bands, such as the Muro Music Association Symphonic Band (Alicante), the Choir of the Autonomous Region of Valencia Choir Federation (FECOCOVA), the Marina Alta Orchestra (OMA), the Denia "Tenor Cortís" Conservatory Orchestra and Symphonic Band, the Sherborne Symphony Orchestra (England), the Cameratum Wind Octet Wind Orchestra, the Marina Alta Wind Orchestra, the Jávea Artistic-Music Center Wind Orchestra (Alicante), the Denia Artistic-Music Association Band (Alicante), the Villena "Ruperto Chapí" Municipal Band (Alicante), the Symphony Orchestra and the Choir of the Oliva "Santa Cecilia" Music School (Valencia), the Sant Mateu "Santa Cecilia" Music Association Band (Castellón), the Albalat de la Ribera Music Academy Symphonic Band (Valencia), the Villafranqueza Music Association Band (Alicante), the Argamasila de Alba "Maestro Martín Díaz" Artistic-Music Association Band (Ciudad Real), the Ontinyent Music Association Band, the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Municipal Symphonic Band and the Symphonic Band of the City of Caltanissetta (Sicily).

He has composed various chamber and symphonic works as well as pieces for the Moors and Christians festival. He has recorded more than ten wind band CDs, both as a conductor and performer. In 2001 he won the "Attestato de Merito" award as a performer at the X edition of the International Music Tournament (TIM) in Zaragoza. In 2002 he won First Prize for Saxhorn at the Alicante Ravel-Granados International Contest. In 2006 he won First Prize in the First Division of the XVI National Wind Band Contest "City of Murcia". In 2007 he won First Prize in the National Wind Band Conducting Contest "City of Sant Mateu" (Castellón) and in 2008 he won First Prize with the highest number of points in the Dulzaina and Percussion Ensemble Contest "City of Altea" (Alicante).

In July 2009 he directed the City of Sagunto Orchestra, with which he performed music by Maestro J. Serrano. At the same time he also directed the City of Valencia Symphony Orchestra, with which he recorded the sound track to 'Margarita' by the composter Iván Llopis, which was nominated for a Goya. In December 2009 he was invited to direct the Seville Christmas concert, performing with the Philharmonic "Santa Victoria" Symphonic Band in Seville Cathedral in front of an audience of more than 2500 people.

Since 2008 he has been the Principal Conductor of the Symphonic Band and Choir of the Olleria "Santa Cecilia" Association Music School, and teaches trombone, saxhorn and tuba at the Professional Music School of the Ontinyent Music Academy. For the 2010-2011 season, he is the guest conductor of the National Symphonic Concert Band of Cuba and the Costa Rica National Orchestra.