Mrs. RITA BARBERÁ NOLLA
For 126 years Valencia has celebrated the International Wind Band Contest which carries the city’s name. Once again, in its 2012 edition, this Contest will bring together renowned ensembles from different parts of the Valencia region, other places in Spain (Zamora, Cadiz, Pontevedra or Ciudad Real) and different European countries (Italy or Belgium), who attend this prestigious event to share the universal language of wind band music, something which is essential to so many and so great a variety of festivities and social events.
In July, a special month in Valencia city, the International Wind Band Contest is, without doubt, an extraordinarily relevant, traditional and well-established cultural event which allows us to promote the tremendous musical vocation of our city, the capital of a region which is internationally recognized and renowned for the wind bands which form a vital part of the daily life and identity of all our towns and cities.
In this year’s edition, all parts of the Contest will be held in Valencia’s Palau de la Música, a grand musical arena which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year; an anniversary it celebrates having fully-established itself, after having organized unforgettable musical evenings, and having played host to the best orchestras and the greatest soloists, director and composers.
From 19 to 22 July the best wind band music will fill the Palau de la Música. The groups participating in the different divisions of the Contest will perform in concerts which, each night, will be closed by a guest band. A novel feature in this anniversary year is the participation of a marching band which will take to the city’s streets during the weekend and which will give, among others, two concerts in the gardens of the Palau de la Música.
This edition is also characterized by the diversity of its guest bands which include the Sedajazz Latin Ensemble, Belgian Brass and the Musicians without Borders Symphony Band. As if that weren’t enough, the Valencia Municipal Band will also contribute to the considerable pull of these musical events in which, after months of rehearsal, the participating bands will give their all.
The International Wind Band Contest will once again transform Valencia into the world capital of wind band music. The long popular tradition of wind band music has continued to evolve and grow richer thanks to the quality, diversity, skill and talent of many hundreds of young musicians, particularly in our Region, some of which have gone on to become famous figures in the music world.
I would like to thank and congratulate the Department for Culture, Municipal Orchestra and Band for the care they have taken in organizing the Contest which this year will pay a worthy tribute to the late Valencian musician, Rafael Talens Pelló. This vibrant homage will allow us to enjoy some of his best-known pasodobles which will be performed on the last day of the Contest by the bands taking part in the Honorary Division.
Rita Barberá Nolla
Mayor of Valencia |
