Josep Ramon Gil-Tàrrega

Josep Ramon Gil-Tàrrega was born in 1962 and graduated in music theory, sight-reading, transposition, accompaniment and choir conducting at the Conservatory of Valencia. He was a student of Eduardo Cifre Gallego, Erwin List, Josep Prats, Manel Cabero, Laszlo Heltay and Jorma Panula.

In addition to his life-long career as a professor of musical education, he has composed numerous works for a cappella choir, voice and piano, and symphonic-choral music, many of which have been performed by both professional and non-professional choirs. Over the years, he has received comissions to compose for many choral institutions such as “Orfeó Català” in Catalonia, the “Cor Madrigal” foundation in Barcelona, the University of Valencia, the Spanish Radio and Television Choir and the Catalan Choral Federation.

He is the founding conductor of Victoria Musicae, a professional choir specialising in XVI and XVII polyphony, and has recorded several CDs with this ensemble, some of which have been very well received internationally. The specialised magazine Goldberg awarded one of them five stars of for the best early music recording of the year 2000. He is also the founding conductor of other choirs.

He was the principal conductor for the preparatory rehearsals of the massed choirs for the Messiah project, a social project supported by La Caixa bank, in collaboration with internationally acclaimed conductors and choirs, including Harry Christophers and The Sixteen, Harry Bickett leading The English Concert, Paul McGreesh with the Gabrieli Consort and Fabio Biondi conducting Europa Galante. As guest conductor, he has led the Philharmonic Orchestra of the University of Valencia, the Bucharest Radio Symphony Orchestra, “Capella de Ministrers”, “Estil Concertant”, and the Spanish Radio and Television Choir.

As a harpsichordist he has collaborated with groups such as “Estil Concertant”, “Turiae Camerata”, “Capella de Ministrers” and “Dolce Rima”, and has participated as a conductor or keyboard continuo player in the recording of 16 CDs.