Banda Sinfónica Municipal de Albacete

HISTORY OF THE BAND

The Albacete Municipal Wind Band is one of the oldest municipal bands in Spain. It was officially constituted on 16 March 1859, when the City Hall appointed Salvador Saldaña to the post of "Maestro Director", although the Band's existence dates back to 1840, when it was called the "Banda del Batallón de la Milicia Nacional".

From 1861 to the early twentieth century, the Band had a number of conductors, including José García Ferrando, Ramón Ruiz Regueiro, Isidoro Hermoso García, Justo Sánchez-Escribano Olmedo Juan Marcos y Más and Daniel Prats Sánchez.

The Band had a series of extraordinary conductors during the twentieth century who improved the Band considerably: Enrique Sos Bustos, Manuel López Varela (1918), José Sagi-Barba, Néstor Martínez Hernández, Manuel López Varela (returning to post in 1935), Daniel Martín Rodríguez and Crescencio Díaz Felipe.

In 1999, Fernando Bonete became the Band's conductor and considerable improvements were made to the ensemble's working practices and artistic level. Following his departure to the Valencia Municipal Wind Band in 2012, Francisco Grau Vegara succeeded him as conductor.

Since March 2015, Santos Gabaldón Fernández has been Principal Conductor of the Band. He has been a member of the Band since 1991 and has trained as a conductor and director since then.

It is the only professional wind band in Castilla La Mancha, and has 45 members who are professional, qualified, highly-skilled musicians. It performs and important annual music program in Albacete as well as in various Spanish auditoria such as those of Valencia, Tenerife, Alicante, Toledo and Cuenca. It has also recorded numerous CDs.

Consequently, the Band is a national benchmark for quality and an institution which is highly-valued and loved by the people of Albacete. The Band are also excellent "ambassadors", providing a valued service for the Albacete City Council.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE CONDUCTOR

Santos Gabaldón Fernández

Santos Gabaldón Fernández began learning music when he was 8 years old, taught by his father at the Albacete Conservatory. He studied sol-fa, saxophone and piano. He went on to enter the Madrid Conservatory of Music where he studied: saxophone; composition; and orchestra, band and choir conducting. During this time his teachers were Professor of Saxophone, Pedro Iturralde, Professors of Orchestra, Mercedes Padilla, Antonio Moya, Pascual Osa, and Professors of Composition, Alfonso Romero and Manuel Seco de Arpe. He graduated in the specialties of saxophone and orchestra, band and choir conducting with extremely high grades.

From 1998 to 2003 and from 2011 to 2014 he received master classes in band and orchestra conducting from Enrique García Asensio.

Since August 1991 he has been a member of the National College of Civil Wind Band Conductors (Colegio Nacional de Directores de Bandas de Música Civiles).

He has directed various professional wind bands such as the Malaga Municipal Wind Band, the Wind Band, Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of the Madrid Conservatory of Music, in addition to other amateur wind bands.

He has sat on the examining board for public examinations and been a judge on CMTV music programs. He has also given lectures on orchestra and band conducting.

He is a member of the AIE, the Ampro Band, and the SGAE, with whom he has registered various works in different genres.

He has recorded numerous CDs with the Albacete Municipal Wind Band, including some for the RTVE-MUSICA label.

In 1991 he was appointed Teacher-Soloist in the specialty of Alto Saxophone for the Municipal Wind Band and then in 1992 he also became Subdirector, gaining both posts by passing public examinations called by the Albacete City Hall.

In May 2012 he was appointed Head of the Albacete Municipal Wind Band, and since February 2015 he has been their Principal Conductor.