AGRUP. MUSICAL "VIRGEN DE LA SIERRA" DE VILLARRUBIA DE LOS OJOS (C. Real)

Director:
ALFREDO GARCÍA BUENDÍA

Band profile

The band was started at the beginnings of the last century but was almost entirely re-launched after the civil war by Manuel Navarrete - who led the band from 1950 until 1965.
The band then lost the support of the town council and briefly disappeared from view. In the early 1970's a group of musicians from the earlier era brought the band back to sporadic life under the new name of the 'Virgen de la Sierra'. In 1985, Evelio Alonso Fernández became director and renewed the band with mostly young players - largely creating the band we know today. His son, Evelio (Jr.), led the band from 1996 until 1998, and recorded an album entitled 'Pasodobles'.
The current director, Alfredo García Buendía, has been at the front of the band since Novemeber 1998.
The band has recovered the support of the town council and undertakes a busy cycle of local concerts in Easter, Christmas and Saint Cecilia - as well as other festivals. The band was invited to participate in every Castille regional band contest organised between 1991 and 1998 and arranges many interchanges with other local bands. In August 2001, the band participated in the II Aranda de Duero band contest in Burgos and a year later it recorded a CD of processional Easter marches entitled 'Sones de Esperanza'for the local Society of Jesus.

Director profile

Alfredo García Buendía was born in Puertollano (Ciudad Real). Hi musical studies began at the age of ten with his father and later at the school of the Banda Municipal de Música de Puertollano, under the direction of Ángel Parla. He went on to study at the Cordoba conservatory with Carmen Flores, Rafael Quero Diego and Bartolomé Conde; and subsequently the Madrid conservatory with Pedro Lerma, Almudena Cano, Pedro Iturralde, and Enrique García Asensio. He obtained maximum points and graduated as a qualified teacher in piano, saxophone, harmony, musical theory, counterpoint, fugue, composition and orchestral management. He gives many concerts throughout Spain and abroad, mostly with the saxophone group he helped found - the 'Cuarteto de Saxofones de Ciudad Real'. As director, he has accompanied such well-known soloists as Miguel A. Colmenero. He has also co-directed with Enrique García Asensio and Odón Alonso.
He has written many books and pieces. He is a member of Spanish Corps of Civil Music Directors and teaches at the Conservatorio Profesional de Música de Ciudad Real and directs the conservatory band. He also directs the Agrupación Musical 'Virgen de la Sierra' of Villarrubia de los Ojos, and the Orquesta Sinfónica of Ciudad Real (CROS).