The Philharmonic Orchestra of the Universitat de València celebrates the beginning of the new academic year 2025-2026 with a concert in the Palau de la Música

As professor Guillem Escorihuela, person in charge ofMusic Club UV reminds us, this concert sets the beginning of thecommemorative events regarding the University Orchestra 30 anniversarythis academic year 25-26: a three decades long journey that have transformed them "on much more than just a musical ensemble", also claiming that the OFUV is "a school of life, a community and a place where young musicians have grown artistically and humanly".

This journey through musical training and education, as well as through friendship and family created within the Orchestra, will be shown in the Opening Concert for the Academic Year 2024-2025, hosted bySala Iturbi of the Palau de la Música of València, on Tuesday21 October, at7:30pm.

The tickets for the concert are free, but you must previously book the online invitation, or buy them at the Palau box office the day of the concert.

The programme, which will catch the audience's attention thanks to the two great musical masters of European Romanticism, has been carefully designed with esteem by Garcia Gázquez, showing through this repertoire a kind of "metaphor" between the inspiring journeys of both compositors and the creative and personal itinerary of the young musicians of the Orchestra.

The concert will begin with one of Mendelssohn's (1809-1847) most famous and most beautiful overtures:The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave), Op. 26. A piece that he composed when he "discovered" this special cave in the Scottish Highlands, inspired by the sounds of water and the rocks, in the acoustic that this hidden space from the small island Staffa presents.

From Scotland, the Orchestra will move to Saint Petersburg (Russia), with one of the main compositions by Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), the Variations on a Rococo Theme, for cello and orchestra in A major, Op. 33, a piece based on a classical Mozartian theme, since he was one of the great figures admired by the Russian composer, explains Hilari Garcia.

Pau Cutanda will be the cello soloist for the Variations of the maestro Tchaikovsky.Pau Cutanda started his musical training at four years old and has taken lessons from renowned maestros such asDavid Apellániz,Iván BalaguerorRafal Jezierski, among others. Now he is Fernando Arias' pupil and is a member of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Universitat de València as full member (since 2021). He is also a member of the Youth Orchestra of the Generalitat Valenciana(since 2023) and of the Youth Orquestra of the Musical Federations(since 2025). Being only 18 years old, he has already won international and national awards, such as the Gustav Mahler Prize or the XXIII Cello Competition Luthiers Clar.

The second part of the concert will be an evocation of the Italy that had an impact on Mendelssohn, which he reflected in hisSymphony no. 4 in A major, "Italian", Op. 90. The Orchestra will play a piece written by an author overcome by the famous Stendhal syndrome, fascinated by the beauty and history of the South of that peninsula.

In fact, as Hilari Garcia points, "the totality of the Sinfonía may evoke many and very diverse situations, but the movement that really resembles more the Italian flavour is, and more specifically, Neapolitan, is the las one, Saltarello: Presto, a dance akin to the Tarantella, easily recognizable by its fast ternary rhythm.

In short, a climatic closure to open a season full of performances and concerts in València - the most proximate ones, the Christmas Concerts in Gandia, Burjassot and the Palau -, in addition to a tour in Burgos and Zaragoza, among many other dates. The repertoire for this year goes through pieces of Mahler,Janáček,Brahms and Strauss.

Three decades training future professionals
ThePhilharmonic Orchestra of the Universitat de València celebrates in 2025 its 30 anniversary, as part of a programme that since the beginning of the year has been dedicated to cultural recovery after the Dana in València and which continues with important and traditional concerts in the second half of the year, such as the opening concert of the academic year and the Christmas Concert of the Universitat de València.

The University Orchestra played for the first time in 1995 under the conduction of Cristóbal Soler, who was then succeeded as principal conductors by Beatriz Fernández AucejoandHilari Garcia Gázquez. Since the beginning, the Orchestra has made more than 330 concertsin which it has played400 pieces, a solid commitment to Valencian music and culture, giving special attention to female composers, composers and musical works from the region, as well as all the support to innovation through the systematic interpretation of new pieces from Valencian composers.

Over the past 30 years, more than 1,440 musicians have been formed at the OFUV's music stands - including the latest National Music Award winner in the Composition category, Francisco Coll-, which is a clear proof of its reputation as a young orchestra with an average age of 20.

Apart from the National Music Award 2025, the University Orchestra has been home to professional female musicians and musicians that are developing their career in outstanding groups from around Spain, as well as in prestigious international orchestras, such as the Deutsche Opper,TonnhalleorLausanne, among others.

The UV Orchestra now is also home to renowned conductors, such as Hilari Garcia,Beatriz Fernández Aucejo- first female conductor of a university orchestra in Spain, winner of national and international awards orMario Torres, newly designated assistant conductor of theChorus of the Generalitat Valenciana.

As a matter of fact, active training in orchestral performance is one of the main characteristics of the OFUV, addressing more than 250 class hours in each academic year, and working in educational projects to bring music to all audiences from a dynamic, attractive and rigorous vision, through educational concerts and course-concert formations to teachers, adult audiences and scholars.

Another great number for this young orchestra is its annual audience, being more than 8.500 people who enjoy its concerts each year. Since its founding, the Orchestra has played in the mail rooms of different Spanish cities, such as Barcelona, Zaragoza or León, and in various international auditoriums in Vienna and Salzburg (Austria), Belfort (France) and Ljubljana (Slovenia).

Moreover, the Orchestra has been promoter of the The Spanish University Orchestra Network (SINERGIA)that includesmore than 20 university orchestras; and, in addition, has established links with Europe by mediating projects, such as the Erasmus+ Meets, where it participated as partner in 2021 and 2022, and FORTHEM+musicfor the connection among orchestras from the FORTHEM Alliance.

The OFUV is, therefore, one of the most vital projects and with the greatest projection of the Universitat de València, becoming just like this in model and cultural ambassador of knowledge.