Advanced Orchestral Specialization Course

Vicente López Puig

He was born in Gandía (Valencia) and studied at the Higher Conservatory of Music in his hometown, graduating in clarinet with Honors. He continued at the National Conservatory of Music of Paris with Guy Deplus and at the Royal Conservatory of Music of Madrid with José Vicente Peñarrocha, obtaining the Extraordinary End of Degree Award. He obtained the Concertist Diploma at the Hochshule des Sarlandes für Musik und Theater in Saarbrücken (Germany) with Eduard Brunner, achieving the highest qualifications.

He has been awarded in different international competitions such as the VI Ciudad de Dos Hermanas International Clarinet Competition (Seville) or the Karl Maria Von Weber International Competition (Munich). He has been a member of the European Community Youth Orchestra for four years, performing with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink, Kurt Sanderling and Vladimir Ashkenazy. In addition, he has collaborated with various orchestras such as the Madrid Symphony, the Galicia Symphony, the Ciutat de Barcelona, the Reina Sofía Chamber Orchestra and has performed numerous concerts in Spain and abroad. In 1989 he obtained the position of full professor of clarinet, obtaining number one in the opposition.

Since its foundation in 1996 he is a member of the Royal Philharmony of Galicia, and currently a clarinet professor at the School of Higher Musical Studies.

José Vicente Faus

He studied at the Conservatories of Valencia and Zaragoza. He extended his studies with Miguel Ángel Bernat, Robert Van Sice, Gabriel Bouchet, David Searcy, Peter Sadlo, Edgar Guggesis, Nick Woud, Jan Pustjens and Rainer Seegers. He is part of the sax-percussion duo Coloqui and has obtained a diploma of honor at the Torneo Internazionale di Musica. He taught percussion at the Professional Conservatory of Music of La Rioja, Logroño, where he also directed the Percussion Group.

He was a member of the Chamber Orchestra of Valencia and percussion soloist of the Youth Orchestra of the Valencian Community. He was invited to the following orchestras: Orquesta de Cámara del Auditorio de Zaragoza Grupo Enigma, Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, Orquesta Ciudad de Oviedo and Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León. He is a member of the Contemporary Atlantic Workshop (TAC). Today is timbal in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia.
 

Jordi Ortega

He began his musical studies at the Sociedad Unión Musical de Benimodo (Valencia), his hometown, being his teacher Juan A. Boronat. He continued his training at the "Joaquín Rodrigo" Conservatory of Music in Valencia and later expanded his training in Germany with Professor Eric Terwilliger (soloist horn of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra). He began his professional work coinciding with the creation of the Royal Philharmonic of Galicia, first as co-principal horn and later as main horn, the position he currently holds.

In the year 2006 he performed together with the Royal Philharmonic of Galicia and directed by Maximino Zumalave the Concert "Mondariz" for horn and orchestra by Juan Durán. In 2016 he performed the Concerto for horn and orchestra no. 3 by W. A. ​​Mozart with the direction of Christoph König. His pedagogical work is carried out mainly at the School of Advanced Musical Studies of Galicia and he also regularly participates in horn specialization courses and in musical meetings of orchestras. He is a founding member of the group “Filhartrompía Quartet”, with which he recorded the album entitled “All4horn”. He is currently a Stomvi artist and plays with the Stomvi Model TITAN 6 horn.

Javier Simó

He studied at the Conservatory of Valencia with Leopoldo Vidal, winning the Special Master Thesis Award. He continued his studies at the Academy of Trumpet in Bremen (Germany) with Bo Nilsson, Pierre Thibaud and Thomas Stevens; and in Malmö (Sweden) with Hakan Hardenberger. He was principal trumpet with the Philharmonie des Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and performed in the Orchestra of the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, under the direction of Lorin Maazel, among others. Professor on leave at the Conservatory of Santiago de Compostela. He was assistant professsor of the “Musikene” School of Music of the Basque Country. He is currently principal trumpet of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia.

Manuel Veiga

He began his studies in A Coruña under the tutelage of Guezim Malaj and Emilio Ubach. His subssequent musical training is due to the influence of masters like Juan Carlos Otero, David Tomás Realp, Edurne Santos, Juan Pedro Fuentes, Vincenzo Menghini, Steve Harriswangler, Francisco Alonso, Janos Meszaros, Juan Enrique Sapiña, Luis Domínguez, Jesús Coello, Midori Kitagawa, Gabor Meszaros or Marco Caratto. Since he was young he received a wide orchestral and chamber training, in which were involved the musicians Carlos Casadó, Pere Anguera Camós, Vicente Alberola, Andreas Sunden and the Quintet Moraguès, among many others.

Beatriz López

Beatriz trained at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg with Alois Brandhofer (ex-soloist of the Berliner Philharmoniker) and Cordelia Höfer-Teusch in chamber music. A student of J. V. Herrera, she has also received valuable advice from A. Prinz, A. Marriner, R. Wieser, K. Thunemann, R. Vlatkovic, J. Zoon, H. Schellenberger, among others.

Winner of various competitions in the specialty of clarinet and chamber music in Spain, Italy and Austria, in 2004 she founded the Pamina Trío, with which she toured Europe and Japan on several occasions and in 2006 released her first album with the label La More from Guido. He also collaborates with orchestras such as the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, Orquesta de Valencia, Orquesta de la RTVE, Oviedo Filarmonía or Sinfónica de Galicia; under the baton of directors such as Ivor Bolton, Mark Wigglesworth, Dennis Runnicles or Hans Graf, among others. He is currently principal clarinet of the Royal Philharmonic of Galicia and a member of the Airas Ensemble since its formation.

Christina Dominik

Born in Hamburg, she studied oboe in Germany, Chile and Israel. For three consecutive years she won the National Competition Jugend Musiziert in Germany as oboe and chamber music soloist. She was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Germany, soloist of the Essen Chamber Orchestra, of the Hamburg Philharmonic, of the Israel Philharmonic and the Symphony Orchestra of Chile. She is currently the oboe soloist of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia.

Laurent Blaiteau

Born in Angers in 1971. He studies with Jean-Claude Gérard at the Conservatory of Music in Stuttgart and later with Maxence Larrieu at the Conservatory of Music in Geneva. Besides participating in numerous master classes with Alain Marion, Aurèle Nicolet, Patrick Gallois, among others. He performed with orchestras such as the Monte Carlo Philharmonic, Sttutgart Chamber Orchestra, Schleswig- Holstein Music Festival Orchestra, Bachcollegium... He participated in chamber music concerts with renowned professionals such as Radovan Vlatkovic, Sergio Azzolini, Jean-Claude Gérard, Ulf Rodenhauser or Ingo Goritziki.

Likewise he performed as soloist under the baton of Jesús López Cobos, Helmuth Rilling, Frans Brüggen, Álvaro Albiach, Maximino Zumalave and Antoni Ros Marbà, among others. He currently performs as principal flute in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia since its foundation.

Carlos Méndez

He began his studies with the flute, winning the First Prize of Honor in his hometown, San Sebastian. Later he completed his studies in double bass with J. M. Rollez, Y. Kawahara, T. Martin, M. Sagat, F. Sala, T. García and L. Streicher, and trained with the last two in the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía. He frequently performs double bass solo and piano concerts, being also the promoter of contemporany music for his instrument. He ussually prepares youth orchestras sections as JONDE, JONC, OJEX, apart from teaching courses and master classes throughout the Peninsula. He belongs to the National Teachers Corps of Music and Performing Arts, and designs the Bass Festival Ludwig Streicher of the EAEM. He is principal double bass of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia.

Barbara Switalska

Born in Wroclaw she began studying cello at the age of six with professors Stanislaw Malek and Feliks Tatarczyk. Between 1991 and 1995 she studied at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid, where she was awarded with the Honourable Mention in 1992/93 and 1993/94 courses, as a student with Natalia Gutman and Franz Hemerson. She won the National Cello competition in her country in 1989. This same year and in 1990 she received the first prize in the Nicanor Zabaleta competition in San Sebastián. In 1994 the School of Music in Wroclaw awarded her with a special prize as the most outstanding student of that institution. In Spain she perfomed at the National Music Auditorium, at the Theater Afundación, at the Fundación Juan March, at the Museo del Prado... She is currently co-principal cellist of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia.

Plamen Velev

He holds a degree from the Conservatory of Sofia and tock advanced courses with Laszlo Mezzö, János Starker and Lluis Claret. He worked at the National Orchestra of Bulgaria, the String Quartet of the Bulgaria RTV, the RTV Belgium Orchestra, the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra and the Conservatory of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

He taught at the International Bachacademie, the JONC, in the summer courses in Palma and also in seminars. He developed his work as soloist under the direction of H. Rilling, M. Zumalave, C. Bolsi and Cr. Hogwood. He is member of the String Quartet of the RFG Trío de Compostela, Dúo Bagatela and director and founder of the Camerata Quiodi. He is currently the principal cello at the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia.

Natalia Madison

Natalia was born and educated in Yekaterinburg, Russia, where in 1993 he graduated with honors from the Ural State Conservatory. He began his professional career with the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, was a member of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under the direction of Claudio Abbado, was part of the Moscow Orchestra under the direction of R. Freisitzer, as co-principal of the viola section and He was a member of the Moscow Kremlin Chamber Orchestra, conducted by M. Rajlevsky. Later she worked in the Galicia Symphony Orchestra and from 1999 to the present she is co-principal of the viola section of the Royal Philharmonic of Galicia and a professor at the School of Advanced Musical Studies in Santiago de Compostela.

Tilmann Kircher

Born in Dortmund in 1971, he received his first violin lesson when he was five with Master D. Stanzeleit, concertmaster of the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra. He studied viola at the Robert-Schumann-Hochschule High School in Düsseldorf with Master J. Kussmaul. He won the German National Competition Jugend Musiziert and the USA World Youth Symphony Orchestra as soloist. He was co-principal viola in Frankfurt State Orchestra during the 1995/1996 season an later on principal viola in the Coppenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra until 1997. From 1997 to 1999 he held the position of principal viola in the Staatskapelle in Weimar. Since July 1999, he is principal viola of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia.

Ildikó Oltai

She was born in Budapest and completed her higher studies at the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy in her hometown; she graduated in 1995 as Professor of Music Theory and Choir Director and in 1996 obtained the Higher Title of Violinist and Violin Teacher. She is in possession of studies of other secondary instruments such as the piano and the viola.

She worked in the Budapest Ferenc Liszt Chamber Orchestra as assistant concertmaster, in the Laszló Lajtha string quartet, in the Ferenc Liszt Budapest Symphony Orchestra as concertmaster, in the Ernö Dohnányi Symphony Orchestra as concertmaster and on various occasions as soloist. With different musical groups he toured Germany, France, Spain, Austria, the Czech Republic and Italy. In addition, with the string quartet Laszló Lajtha she has made several recordings with the Naxos company. Since 1996 she has been a member of the Royal Philharmonic of Galicia and since 2001 she has been a violin and chamber music teacher at the Escuela de Altos Estudios Musicales. She performed as a soloist with the RFG under the direction of Paul Daniel in 2008, and performed Béla Bartók's 2nd Violin Concerto with Antoni Ros Marbà in 2010.

Anca Smeu

She studied violin at the Ciprian Porumbescu Conservatory in Bucharest. In 1983 she won the competition Citta di Stressa (Italy) and the third prize in the competition Jaroslaw Kocian in the Czech Republic. She worked in the Philharmonic Orchestra of Brasov (Romania) and played as concertmaster with the La Neuville Orchestra (Switzerland), Bucharest Radio Orchestra (Romania) and the Sofia Youth Orchestra (Bulgaria). She has made a number of recordings and concerts in Romania, Italy, Austria, Germany, France and Spain. In 1995 she was Special Prize at the String Quarter Mozart Competition, in Salzburg (Austria). She was violin teacher at the Music School in Brasov (Romania) and taught chamber music at the Conservatory of Music in the same city. She is currently a member of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia.

Nikolay Velikov

He began his musical studies at the age of six at the School of Music in his hometown, Sliven. Later he joined the National Institute of Music Lubomir Pipkov in Sofia, and subsequently completed his studies at the Conservatory Pancho Vladiguerov with the violin professors Valentín Choparinov and Alexander Ilchev. He obtained his degree with honors in violin and chamber music, to then continue studying with Professor Stefano Pagliani in Santa Chiara Academy (Italy).

He was awarded in three occasions in the National Contest of Young Performers in Bulgaria. He began his career in the Sofia Chamber Orchestra holding the position of assistant concertmaster, performing at home as well as Germany, Holland, France... He also has performed as solist in several European orchestras. In 1996, he obtained the position of co-principal of the second violin section in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia, where he continues to work.

Grigori Nedobora

At eleven he gave his first concert as soloist and at fourteen played the Sibelius Concerto with the Philharmonic Orchestra in his hometown, Kharkov (Ukraine). He continued his training with Maya Glezarova at the Musical College attached to the Moscow Tchaikovski Conservatory and furthered his studies at the Gnesin Academy, where he studied violin with Vladimir Spivakov and chamber music with Valentin Berlinski, of the world-famous Borodin Quartet. He worked with the Moscow Virtuosi conducted by Vladimir Spivakov, with whom he gave numerous concerts in over twenty countries in Europe, America and Africa. He was also a member of “Classic Soloist” chamber ensemble and formed the “Moz-Art” duo with his colleague Lev Tchistiakov. Since the formation of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia, he is the principal-second violins of the orchestra.

Adriana Winkler

Adriana studied at the Bucharest University of Music with Professor Stefan Gheorghiu. Between 1990-1996 she played in the "George Enescu" Philharmonic Orchestra of Bucharest and was a professor at the University of Music in the same city. During the period 2007-2011 she was cultural attaché at the Romanian Embassy in Berlin.

She performs solo concerts with the Romanian Broadcasting Orchestra and with the Lebanese National Orchestra. She plays chamber music for violin and piano with the pianist Cristian Petrescu (Berlin) and with the "Amati Ensemble" in Bucharest, Berlin, Paris and Maastricht. She is a violin teacher at the Escuela de Altos Estudios Musicales in Santiago de Compostela and has held the position of assistant concertmaster at the Royal Philharmonic of Galicia since 1996.

James Dahlgren

Honorary Concertmaster of the Porto Symphony Orchestra, first violin and professor of the Sun Valley Summer Symphony (USA), he studied with Zaven Melikian at the San Francisco Conservatory. After working for five years with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, he accepted the position of concertmaster at the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra and later as associate concertmaster at the City of Granada Orchestra. After arriving in Europe, he also worked as guest concertmaster with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, among others.

He was awarded in the international competition María Canals in Barcelona. He is a professor of violin and of the postgraduate class of Audition Preparation at the Escuela de Altos Estudios Musicales, in Santiago de Compostela, and has held the position of concertmaster of the Royal Philharmonic of Galicia since 2005. He maintains a very active schedule, performing as a soloist and in chamber music formations.