BANDA MUNICIPAL DE
MUSICA DE BILBAO / SPAIN
Bilbao, Spain is a major city in the province of Biscay in the autonomous community of the
Basque Country. It is the largest municipality of the Autonomous Community of the Basque
Country and the tenth largest in Spain. The city is the home of the famous Banda Municipal de
Bilbao. On June 9, 1895, under the direction of José Sáinz Basabe, the Bilbao Municipal Music
Band offered their first concert in the Arenal. Since then, José Franco Ribate (1924), Pedro Córdoba Rozas (1928), Jesus Arambarri Garate (1932), Bruno Muñoz (1950), Urbano Ruiz Laorden
(1969), Antonino Ibarrondo Oleaga (1979), Rafael Sanz-Espert (2002) and José Rafael Pascual
Vilaplana (2015) have been the directors of the already more than centennial Municipal Band.
The band has performed under the baton of well-known guest conductors including Enrique
García Asensio, Pablo Sánchez Torrella, Juan José Ocón, Darío Sotelo, José Mª Sáinz Alfaro,
Gary F. Lamb, Richard Miles, Thomas Rotondi, Evgeny Dzhalalov, Pablo dell’Oca, Fernado
Bonete, Jan Cober, Douglas Bostock and Franco Cesarini. Guest soloist include Pedro Iturralde,
Kepa Junkera, Astrid Crone, Manuel Bobenrieth, Javier Eguillor, Manel Ramada, Santiago Juan,
Mª Eugenia Silguero, the Euskadi Brass Metals Quintet, Donostiarra Orfeón, Inés Olabarria,
Claudi Arimany, Vicente Zaragoza, Juana Guillem, and Serafín Zubiri, among others.
La Banda has fourteen albums: “Aires de Euskal Herria”, recorded on vinyl; A double CD on
the occasion of its one hundredth anniversary that included a work by Jose Franco Ribate and a
selection of Pasodobles taurinos; A CD recorded at the International Music Band Contest City
of Valencia 2002; “Singing for 125 years” together with the Choral Society of Bilbao; “Spanish
music for wind band,” three double CDs featuring live performances at the Euskalduna Palace,
“Tell me a Brass Story” with the Spanish Brass quintet; “Zarzuela” a monographic CD directed
by Iñaki Urkizu and “Things of the imagination” under the musical direction of Eduardo Moreno.
In their long history they have offered concerts throughout the country, highlighting those performed at the Palau de la Música de Valencia, the Teatro de la Unió de Llíria, the Teatro Principal
de Vitoria-Gasteiz, the Teatro Gayarre de Iruña, the Angel Guimerá Theater Santa Cruz de Tenerife, participation in the special Christmas program of EITB in the Kursaal Donostiarra, Concerts
in Abandoibarra on the occasion of the Aste Nagusia with Kepa Junkera, Oskorri, Sole Jiménez,
Serafín Zubiri or Urko, participation in the Closing of Musikaste next to the Coral Andra Mari,
in the IV Ibero-American Congress of directors, composers, arrangers and instrumentalists of
Symphonic Bands celebrated in Tenerife, in the IV Convention of the Association of flautists of
Spain, in the III Meeting of Bands of Music Of the Theaters of the Channel of Madrid and in the
Contest of Bands of Music ‘Villa of the Sénia’
Conductor
José Rafael Pascual
Vilaplana
José Rafael Pascual Vilaplana began his musical studies with the bombardino and the piano at the
Music School of UM de Muro, to continue them in the conservatories of Alcoi and Valencia. He
studied Band and Orchestra Conducting with Jan Cober (Netherlands), Eugene Corporon (USA),
Karl Österreicher, Hans Graf and Yuji Yuhasa (Austria) and Georges Pehlivanian (Slovenia).
He has been guest conductor in different symphonic formations in Argentina, Belgium, Colombia,
Cuba, Slovenia, Spain, Holland, England, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Switzerland: Symphonic
Orchestra of Matanzas (Cuba), OS of Bucharest, O. “Manuel de Falla” Chamber of Cadiz, OS of
Murcia, OS of Castellón, O. Ciutat d’Elx, OS del Vallès, O. Philharmonic of Slovenia, OS of CONSMUPA, Camera Musicae Orchestra of Tarragona, OS Teatro Chapí de Villena, National Youth
Band of Holland, Band of the Royal Navy of the Netherlands, Band of the Armed Forces of Slovenia, National Band of Cuba, Municipal Band of Buenos Aires, Portuguese Symphonic Band
of Porto, Band of Symphonic of Bairrada (Portugal), Band Of the Federation of Bands of Trento
(Italy), Schwäbische Jugend Blassorchester of Bavaria (Germany), Aulos Wind Band of Switzerland, Civica Filarmonica di Lugano, Municipal Bands of Alicante, Barcelona, ​​Bilbao, Castellón,
A Coruña, Madrid, Palma de Mallorca , Pontevedra, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Santander, Santiago
de Compostela, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Band of the CONSMUPA (Oviedo), Band of Musikene, Band of
the CS of the Canaries, Band of the CS of Jaén, Band of the Diputación de Tarragona, Band Of the
Federation of Bands of Navarre, Band of the Federation of Murcia, Band of the Federation of the
Valencian Community ... He has been director of several Valencian bands like UM Castell de Castells, AUM Bocairent, AAM “El Trabajo” of Xixona, UM of Yátova, UM of Wall and SM “La Nova”
of Xàtiva, as well as of the group “La Xafigà”.
He has been a regular director of the Albacete Symphony Orchestra since 2001, principal guest
conductor of the UCAM Symphony Orchestra of Murcia and of the Portuguese Symphonic Band
of Porto, as well as director of the Orchestra de Vents “Filharmonia” and professor of Band Direction at the ECM “Vall d’Albaida”. Since 2009 he has been Artistic Director of the Istituto Musicale GA Fano de Spilimbergo (Italy) as well as guest lecturer at the ISEB in Trento (Italy) and the
National Music Plan for the Coexistence of the Colombian Ministry of Culture.
He is composer of various chamber works, symphonies, choirs and incidental music for theater, as
well as the musical “Balansiyyà”. He has written works for soloists such as Spanish Brass LM, Luis
González, Juan C. Matamoros, Ximo Vicedo or Steven Mead. He is also regularly invited to participate as a jury in international composition and management competitions in Spain, Colombia, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland or Portugal. It has recorded 20 CD’s of band music for the stamps
Audiart, RTVE, FLOC, TABALET or DE HASKE.
He is in possession of the “Batuta del Mtro. Tomás Boufartigue” awarded in Havana in 1991. He
is the winner of the First Prize in the International Competition of Management of WMC de
Kerkrade (Holland, 1997) and EBBA in Birmingham (England, 2000). In 2004 he was awarded
the EUTERPE Award in the categories of Band Direction and Music Composition for the Festival
awarded by the Federation of S. Musicales de la Valenciana. In 2010 he received the National Music Award “Ignacio Morales Nieva” awarded by the Music Festival of Castilla-La Mancha.
Since January of 2015 he is the Titular Director of the Municipal Band of Music of Bilbao.
Web: www.pascualvilaplana.com