Banda de Música de la Cruz Roja de Valencia HISTORY OF THE BAND The Wind Band of the Spanish Red Cross in Valencia was created in the 1930s on the initiative of the organization's 45th Brigade of Combat Medics. The Band has performed as the finale to all the organization's parades, as well as at city events such as the tribute to Maestro Giner. From its foundation to the 1980s, the Band had its home in the Valencia Bullring, which hired the Band to perform in and add live to all the festivals it hosted. The Band's most renowned conductors include Enrique Meri, Ramón Ramírez, Vicente Palau, Mariano Puig, and Ramón Capella Palmero. From 1972, Francisco Morató Cordellat led the band, taking care of practically all its artistic and administrative tasks. Last March, Francisco Folgado Mateu took over as principal conductor. The Band's most memorable performances include its almost annual participation in the Spring Festival, celebrated in the Viveros Gardens and organized by the Asindown Association; events paying tribute to the elderly in local clubs and retirement homes; a charity event in the San Juan Bautistia home for children; charity concerts organized by the Red Cross to raise funds for the Horn of Africa; "Música por Lorca", a concert to raise money to help those affected by the earthquake in Lorca; and the concert given in July 2012 in Valencia Town Hall Square to celebrate the Red Cross Gold Lottery. All the Band's members are volunteers. BIOGRAPHY OF THE CONDUCTOR Jesús Perelló FusterJesús Perelló Fuster was born in Buñol (Valencia). He studied the oboe with Maestros Marí and F. Salanova, gaining his qualifications with the highest possible grades. He also studied Counterpoint and Fugue, Harmony and Orchestra Direction and, after passing the exam to enter the Rotterdam Conservatory, he studied Wind Band and Orchestra Conducting with Arix Van Beek, Jean Koops, Jean Cober and Heinz Friessen, among others.He has attended short courses in conducting with Maestro Cervera Collado. He furthered his studies in Orchestra Conducting at the Madrid Superior Conservatory with Maestro García Asensio. He directed the Buñol "La Artística" Youth Orchestra in the Valencia Youth Orchestra Festival, the San Antonio "Armónica" Band, the Yatova Music Association Band, the Montroy "Armonía", the Moncada Artistic-Musical Center Band, the Alacuas Music Association Band, the Godelleta Music Association Band, the Buñol "La Artística" Symphonic Band, the Rotterdam Conservatory Orchestra, the Holland National Youth Band, the Berlicum Band (Holland) and the Cullera Music Academy Band. He has performed as guest director of the Alicante Municipal Band. He has also been guest director of the Madrid Municipal Band on various occasions. He directed the San Antonio "Armónica" for 20 years. When he arrived, the group had 22 musicians and when he left they were performing in the Special Section of the International Wind Band Contest "City of Valencia" and had 100 musicians. In 1990, the Valencia Provincial Council commissioned him to record a CD of Valencian music. He is currently the Director of the Band and Music School of the Godelleta Music Association. The School has 200 pupils, 23 teachers, a percussion ensemble, chamber ensembles, a youth band, children's band and choir. The School and Band were practically non-existent at the end of the 1980s. He has recorded 5 CDs, containing a diverse range of music, with the Godelleta Music Association Band. They have also toured France, Holland, Portugal, the Canary Islands, Galicia and various Spanish cities, all of them outside the Region of Valencia. He is a member of the soloist group, "Mare Nostrum", with which he has toured Paris, New York, Havana, Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao, among others. Since 1976, he has been the English horn soloist in the Valencia Municipal Band, gaining his place through public examination. |
