SOCIEDAD ARTÍSTICA Y MUSICAL DE MAGALLÓN (Zaragoza)

Director:
RUBÉN NAVARRO

Band profile

The band is one of the oldest in Aragon and was founded in 1899 by Ramón Salvador Castro - a local resident and notable organist and composer. Before the civil war, which forced the band to dissolve, it was known as the municipal band. The band reformed in peacetime under Vicente Pellicer and in the mid-1950's Domingo Morales took the reigns. Alfredo Collado, and the current director, Rubén Navarro, succeeded him successively.
The band has performed throughout Spain and Europe - including the Austrian Tyrol, Salzburg, Paris, and Lisbon - and recently made several recordings in the Mozart room of the Saragossa Auditorium.
More than 600 of the town's 1000 residents are members of the band society and the band supports a school and choir.

Director profile

Rubén Navarro was born in Magallón (Saragossa) in 1971 and began his musical studies with the saxophone at the band's own school of music. He later studied under Israel Mira at the Saragossa conservatory.
He later joined the band of the second mechanized army division in Seville and studied under José Antonio Santos. He has studied in Toulouse with Philippe Lecocq and took part in post-graduate seminaries with Andrés Gomis in Madrid. He has also studied under Albaro Zaldívar and Juan José Olives.
Since 1994, he has concentrated on teaching saxophone at various provincial schools and the conservatories of Tarazona and Saragossa. He has directed Banda de Música de Magallón since 1998.