The Iberoamerican University Foundation (FUNIBER) interviewed Maestro and Dr. José Manuel Gil de Gálvez, renowned violinist from Málaga and orchestra conductor. The artist closed the year 2024 with numerous achievements, both professionally, joining the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) as a full member, and personally, playing for the first time in concert with his daughter.
In addition, the artist highlights the work of the FUNIBER’s Cultural Work and the Universidad Europea del Atlántico (UNEATLANTICO) for promoting musical education through workshops and concerts in Latin America.
Don’t miss the full interview below:
What is your highlight of 2024 in relation to your professional career?
Well, there are several, I would highlight the release, together with Concerto Málaga for the important record company Naxos, of the complete works for strings by Joaquín Turina. This has been a great personal and professional satisfaction, as it has obtained great reviews in the main specialized magazines of the world. Also, this year, I have become the image of the prestigious Central European string house Warchal Strings, something very nice because it also allows me to contribute to the development and improvement of prototypes of violin strings.
As an orchestra conductor, I fondly remember the concert in front of the National Orchestra of Venezuela in Caracas and the concert held for on Spain Day at the National Theater of El Salvador, as well as the tours in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador, which I relive with great joy. Likewise, at the beginning of the year, I lived with excitement the beginning of the construction of the new headquarters of Hispania Música, the Foundation I chair; towards the end of the year, it was significant for me to join the Royal Society of Arts based in London; and the most beautiful thing, I played for the first time in concert with my daughter Jimena, who is already playing her violin very well.
During his musical tour of the last year, he has conducted, with the support of the Cultural Work of FUNIBER and UNEATLANTICO, numerous workshops for young students. How do you think music education is doing today?
In general, very diverse depending on the sites, with some exceptions. From the number of countries, I have already visited and from what I continue to see, I observe that the policy makers in charge of these teachings do not have a deep understanding of the benefits of music at all ages. But mainly in the earliest ones due to the character of integral formation for the person, beyond whether they are going to dedicate themselves to it or not… I even sometimes fall into the hopelessness of thinking that not only do they not know it, but that they are not even interested in knowing it. Even so, I find in Latin America a lot of talent and people who are going to get ahead in spite of everything, because creativity and art are consistent with our condition and the true raison d’être of human progress. The level of talent and potential is enormous, of that I have no doubt, and I am sure they will break through. In this sense, the proposal and the contribution made by the Cultural Work of FUNIBER and UNEATLANTICO is praiseworthy.
At the end of the year, he was appointed a full member of the Royal Society of Arts. What does this recognition entail? And what are your duties within the organization?
A few months ago, I was invited and nominated for induction into the prestigious Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in recognition of merit and work done, and it was announced in the RSA Journal. The RSA is a long-standing and classic London society founded in 1754 to which famous people such as Charles Dickens, Benjamin Franklin, Stephen Hawking, Karl Marx, Adam Smith, Marie Curie, Nelson Mandela, or David Attenborough, among others, have belonged.
At the moment, I have just joined the RSA, and basically, the mission we have is to contribute among all of us to generate changes. In my case, my work focuses on the humanities and the arts. I focus all this with the aim of successfully facing social challenges, leading this change on the ground and from music to dare to new more humane ways of “doing” that produce impact, and that together we can change inertias that do not suit humanity. I am convinced that we need a new depiction to change the current paradigm, and although it may not seem so, I am beginning to detect that perhaps we are starting to return to it. While it will take decades and many disappointments to reach that new time, I firmly believe that it will ultimately be what signifies a change of era.
Have you already planned your musical agenda for 2025? Is there any project you are particularly looking forward to?
This year, in addition to the usual activity in Spain leading Concerto Málaga, I will be touring with the Orchestra in the United States, South Korea, and probably Japan. At the recording level, a new CD will be released with music by Mozart, together with tenor Edgardo Rocha, as well as another CD of Spanish violin duets from the 18th century, as a result of the Fundación Hispania Música’s restoration program.
Likewise, I will return as conductor and violinist to Latin America with FUNIBER and UNEATLANTICO; with the national orchestras of Venezuela, Bolivia, and El Salvador, more than probably also with that of Peru; and I will visit some other American countries. In Africa, I will be in Tunisia and maybe in Angola and most importantly, I am starting a recording project of Spanish symphonic music of which I cannot yet reveal details that I am very excited about and that will start next summer.
In addition to artistic matters, I am especially looking forward to the inauguration of the new headquarters of the Fundación Hispania Música in Málaga, which will take place sometime in the second part of the year. We will also start the publishing project with our label Iberian Musical Press in co-publication with Almuzara publishing house, and we will also start with the academic offer of postgraduate courses in music together with FUNIBER. This year we will offer the first of them, a Master in Music Management.
Finally, could you recommend a piece of classical music you have listened to recently?
I have been listening lately to great authors again, many times one goes off the rails and needs to return to the center. I carry with me symphonies by Beethoven, Mozart, or Schubert’s chamber music, and a lot of Spanish music, which I never abandon, with composers like Turina, Falla, Giménez. I am now interested in the symphonism of Albéniz, very concise but seductive, and in the works of Sor and Arriaga.
