ORQUESTA

Orquesta de Valencia

Since 1987, the Palau de la Música has been the home of the Orchestra of Valencia. The creation of this musical center has provided an ideal platform for our orchestra, laying the foundation for a period of stability and great success.

The orchestra was founded in 1943 under the direction of Juan Lamotte de Grignon and has been conducted by Napoleone Annovazzi, José Iturbi, Enrique Garcia Asensio, Petro Pirfano, Luis Antonio Garcia Navarro, Lorenzo Martínez Palomo, José Maria Cervera Collado, Benito Lauret and Manuel Galduf. Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez has been the resident conductor since September of 1997. Some memorable guest concuctors have included Ataúlfo Argenta, Clemens Krauss, Jean Martinon, Pedro de Freitas, Iosif Conta, Sergiu Celibidache, Antoni Ros Marbá, Sergiu Comissiona, Jean Fournet, Krzysztof Penderecki, Philippe Entremont, Franz Paul Decker, Cristóbal Halffter, Jesús López Cobos, Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Maxim Shostakovich, etc.

Among its eminent soloists we find the illustrious names of Daniel Barenboim, Alexander Brailowsky, Arthur Rubinstein, Alexis Weissenberg, Henryk Szeryng, Andres Segovia, Nicanor Zabaleta, Mstislav Rostropovich, Ivo Pogorelich, Joaquin Achúcarro, Maria João Pires, Pascal Rogé, Marielle and Katia Labèque, Felix Ayo, Maurice André and the voices of Victoria de los Àngeles, Montserrat Caballé, Renata Scotto, Plácido Domingo, Mirella Freni, Elena Obraztsova, Samuel Ramey, María Bayo, Thomas Quasthoff, James Morris, Robert King, Nicolai Gedda, Gundula Janowitz, Giuseppe Taddei, etc. In addition to its concerts in the Palau and theatres in the Valencia region, the orchestra has also performed in the Auditorio Nacional and the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, the Teatro Maestranza in Seville, the Festival of Peralada, the Semana de Música Religiosa in Cuenca, etc.

The orchestra, which undertook an international tour throughout France and England with José Iturbi in 1950, participated in the 1996 Festival Roma and the International Music Festival of Ravello with Mstislav Rostropovich as soloist and, in July of the same year, in the International Istanbul Music Festival.

The orchestra's discography includes releases with Iturbi for HMV and RCA, the anthology of Valencian Music for ANEC, various LP's and CD's dedicated to Vaencian composers: a CD dedicated to Albeniz for AUVIDIS, three live recordings: J. Padilla's "La bien amada", J. Serrano's "La canción del olvido" and "Compositores valencianos" including music by J. Rodrigo, E. López Chavarri and R. Chapi. In 1996 the orchestra recorded two CD's for SONY Classical dedicated to J. Rodrigo and Ó. Esplá with Victoria de Ángeles and Joaquín Achùcarro as soloists.