History

In 1901 the councilor of the Valencia City Council, journalist and art critic, Vicente Ávalos Ruiz, proposed to the highest musical authority of the time, Salvador Giner, the creation of the Municipal Band under the direction of Santiago Lope, who conducted its first concert on December 8th, 1903.

Leading the maestro Lope, the Valencian group achieved innumerable successes. Among them three first prizes in the Bilbao International Contest, held in 1905.

The main conductors of the Municipal Band have been the teachers: Lope, Vega, Ayllón, Seguí, Palanca, Ferriz, Garcés, Ribelles, Sánchez Torrella, Bonete Piqueras, Rafael Sanz-Espert, Miquel Rodrigo i Tamarit and currently Cristóbal Soler.

The Municipal Band makes numerous performances annually, among which we must highlight the concerts performed by cycles in the Palau de la Música, those performed in the month of June in the gardens of the Palau, in the International Contest of Music Bands “Ciutat de Valencia”, as well as the peripheral neighbourhoods, towns of the Valencian Community and several European cities, and also participates in the protocol acts of the City Council.

In 2002 the Hon. Valencia City Council agreed to grant it the City’s Gold Medal on the occasion of the centenary of its foundation.

In 2003, at the proposal of the Minister of Education, Culture and Sports and after deliberation by the Council of Ministers, the Tie of the Civil Order of Alfonso X El Sabio was awarded to the Municipal Band of Valencia.

In 2005 he toured Japan, with enormous success, participating in the “2005 Japan Band Clinic”, contributing to increasing his international prestige. He is in possession of the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts, the highest decoration awarded by the Spanish State and the High Distinction of the Generalitat Valenciana for Cultural Merit.