INSTITUTIONAL GREETINGS
Unió Musical de Lliria HISTORY OF THE BAND The Unió Musical of Llíria dates back to 8 October 1903, although its roots can be traced to the "Música Nova" band which emerged in the nineteenth century. The band has won more than 60 first prizes in national and international contests. Particularly worthy of note was their participation in the 1962 World Music Contest in Kerkrade (the Netherlands) where they were judged to be the band with the highest number of points in the history of the contest and received an honorable mention and the Saint Lambert Flag. The high-point of the band's career was in the 1970s and 80s when its social club was a meeting point for the best orchestras and conductors in Europe. The band has performed in numerous cities in Spain. Its concerts in the Teatro Real of Madrid were highly successful and it was the first amateur wind band to play in this exceptional auditorium. Its performances abroad include concerts all over Europe, North American, Central American and South American, as well as in Hitachi, Kawaguchi and Tokyo in Japan. The Spanish conductors who have been invited to conduct the Banda Sinfónica Unió Musical of Llíria include: Enrique García Asensio, Antoni Ros Marbá, Bernardo Adam Ferrero, Juan Garcés Queralt and Miguel Gorrea Garrigues. The band has also been led by acclaimed conductors such as Zubin Metha, Carlo María Giulini, Rafael Frübeck de Burgos, Janos Ferenecsik, Hans Peter Frank, Maurice Abravanel and Sergiu Celebidache. The band's most important conductors since its foundation in 1903, when the conductor was Maestro Francisco de Paula Vives, have been: Eduardo Felip, Manuel López Varela, Juan Garcés Queralt, José María Barrachina, Francisco Villarejo, Vicente Martí Feltrer, Pablo Sánchez Torrella, Manuel Enguídanos Cotanda, Francisco Cabrelles Romero and Rafael Sanz Espert. Enrique Artiga has been its Maestro-Principal Conductor since November 2009. BIOGRAPHY OF THE CONDUCTOR Enrique Artiga FrancésEnrique Artiga Francés was born in Lliria (Valencia) and began studying music in the Centro Instructivo "Unión Musical de Llíria". He went on to study at the Valencia Superior Conservatory of Music.He received the extraordinary end of degree prize for clarinet and chamber music, with studies in counterpoint and fugue, composition, piano, orchestra conducting and musicology. As a clarinet soloist he won first prize in the 1st National Chamber Music Contest "Manuel Palau" and the 4th Memorial López Chavarri Contest. He is a teacher of the Municipal Bands of Castellon and Valencia. He is currently the clarinet soloist of the Valencia Orchestra. He has performed in countless concerts as a soloist, including a Mozart concert for clarinet and orchestra held in the Patriarca faculty of the University of Valencia which was conducted by Maestro Enrique García Asensio. He was the director and founder of the Sphera Ensemble with which he attended the 21st Festival of British Youth Orchestras held in Scotland, and the London Contemporary Music Festival in 2000. He conducted the Symphony Orchestra of the Unión Musical of Llíria in the Edinburgh Orchestra Festival in 1999, and was later invited to take part in following editions of the festival by the conductor of the Birmingham Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle. He has conducted various wind bands in the Valencia Region, leading them to win numerous prizes in the Contests of Valencia, Kerkrade (Holland) and, most recently in 2008 and 2012, in the city of Altea, where he won first prize and honorable mention and received the highest marks possible in both editions. He was invited to conduct the Valencia Orchestra, an unusual occurrence, given that he forms part of the ensemble. He has directed the Band of Sankt Georgen im Schwarzwald, Germany. He has also conducted the Madrid Municipal Symphony Band, which has been led by the best contemporary Spanish and European conductors. |
