JOSÉ SUÑER

Native of El Puig of Santa María, José Suñer studied music and percussion at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Valencia where he earned a Music Teaching Degree and Special Award for Outstanding Graduate. He continued his studies in Madrid, Barcelona and Luxembourg.

He studied music harmony, analysis and counterpoint at the Conservatory of Valencia and then conducting and composition with Maestro Julio Ribelles.

He has participated in music festivals in Barcelona, Santander, Nimes, Luxembourg, Maastricht, Ludwigshafen, Innsbruck, Paris, Edinburgh, London, Hamamatsu, Tokyo, Shanghai, Cincinnati, Nashville, and Chicago.

He is also a member (through public examination) of the Banda Municipal de San Sebastián (Municipal Band of San Sebastian), the Conservatorio de San Sebastián, Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao (Bibao Symphony Orchestra) and the Orquesta Sinfónica del Gran Teatro del Liceo (Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatro del Liceo) in Barcelona.

He has served as conductor to the Sociedad Musical Eslava de Albuixech (Eslava de Albuixech Musical Association).

He currently teaches with the Banda Municipal de Valencia. His work has been published by Catalana d’Edicions Musicals (Barcelona), Arts i més (Valencia), Blas-Basen (Stockholm, Sweden), and Tot per l'Aire (Valencia) and have been performed in Europe, America, Australia, Japan, China and Korea. He is a member of SGAE (Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers), WASBE (World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles) and the M.I. Academia de la Música Valenciana (M.I. Academy of Valencian Music).

He has received the Fennell Special Prize in the First Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra Composition Contest 2006; the SACEM prize; Third Prize at the Concurs International d’Orchestres - Coup de Vents 2008 in Lille, France; he was a finalist at the Second International Frank Ticheli Composition Contest in New York, USA, in 2009; his composition Phobos was nominated for an Hollywood Music in Media Award in 2013 (Los Angeles, U.S.A.); and his work El Jardin de las Hespérides was nominated in 2015; the latter winning the Premio Euterpe a la Creatividad Musical Sinfónica in 2016 (Euterpe Award for Creativity in Symphonic Music) given by the FSMCV (Federation of Musical Associations of the Valencian Region).

He has been invited to speak about his work by the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra, Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), and Berklee Valencia.