AGRUPACIÓN MUSICAL "SAUCES" DE CARTAGENA

Director:
JAIME BELDA CANTAVELLA

Band profile

The band was founded in the meeting room of a local residents association in Cartagena in 1982. It was formally registered as a band in 1984 and accepted into the first category of Murcia bands eight years later. Last year, it was promoted to special category. Since 1987 it has been actively participating in the regional government's campaign to raise musical awareness. It has been nominated to represent Murcia in numerous musical contests and has made many recordings for local television and radio.
It won its first awards in the regional Murcia contest in 1997 and 1999 and participated as invited band in the years 1998 and 2000. In recognition of it success, it was awarded the cultural prize by the Cartagena cultural association in 1999. Last year, it took first prize in the Campo de Criptana contest held in Ciudad Real.
The band has published a CD of popular pasodobles written in Cartagena during the past 120 years. In June 2001, it took part in a successful season of performances organized by the Pro Música association.
It has been directed by José Lillo Tormo and the current director, Jaime Belda Cantavella.

Director profile

Jaime Belda Cantavella was born in Font de la Figuera, Valencia, and started his musical studies with the Sociedad Musical La Lira Fontiguerense. He obtained maximum marks in saxophone, piano, counterpoint, fugue, composition, and directing at the Madrid Royal Conservatory. He later attended advanced courses in Nice in France and Wuirkershein in Germany. He has directed the La Lira Fontiguerense, the Banda Primitiva of Lliria, and the Unión Musical Torrevejense of Torrevieja.
He has directed more than 300 concerts with the Murcia regional youth orchestra - including performances in the the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Palau de Valencia, the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, and the auditoriums of Murcia, Santiago de Compostela and Saragossa. The orchestra has also performed in Munich, Antwerp, Maastrich, and Venice.
He has also directed the Murcia regional chamber orchestra and the Junger Wirble Orchestra in Munich, as well as performing with the Bohuslav Martinu chamber orchestra.
In April 2001, he was invited by the Byelorussian state symphony orchestra to direct a series of concerts opening the Minsk spring festival. He was included in a guide to the great orchestral directors written by Hans-KIaus Jungheinrich and published by Alianza (1991).