- Band music fans supported the return of the international competition to the Palau de la Música.
- The Councillor for Cultural Action, José Luis Moreno, highlighted the performances of the section of honour, which put the finishing touch to a historic edition of the competition.
The 136th edition of the Certamen Internacional de Bandas ‘Ciudad de València’ closed this Sunday with a great success of public and participation which, as the councillor for Cultural Action, José Luis Moreno, underlined, ‘has exceeded all expectations’. More than 15,000 people enjoyed an intense programme of activities in which more than 3,200 musicians from 40 bands took part, 21 of them in competition, another 4 invited and, in addition, another 17 in previous performances, who took part in an intense programme of activities.
The performances of the bands that make up the section of honour put the finishing touch, this Sunday in the Palau de la Música, ‘to a historic edition of the Certamen Internacional de Bandas “Ciudad de Valencia”, added councillor Moreno. Five great Valencian groups, including three of the so-called 6G, have competed in the top section of the contest.
The event kicked off on the 13th with the show ‘Sonar València. Paisaje Eco-sónico de la ciudad’, in which the group Neopercusión, together with 350 musicians from nine bands of the Coordinadora de Sociedades Musicales de València offered an innovative proposal under the artistic direction of Juanjo Guillem. The following day, Sunday 14th, the ‘Off-Certamen. Mascletà Sinfónica’, in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, Teatro Principal and on the route between the two buildings. This was an activity organised by the Instituto Valenciano de Cultura in which the youth bands of the societies competing in the honour section of the contest took part: the Ateneu Musical Schola Cantorum de la Vall d’Uixó, the Unió Musical de Llíria, the Centro Instructivo Musical La Armónica de Buñol, the Societat Instructiva Unió Musical de Tavernes de la Valldigna and the Sociedad Musical La Artística de Buñol. All of them offered an innovative show together with 88 percussionists and 13 musicians from the brass section of the Jove Orquesta de la Comunidad Valenciana.
All this programme continued in the following days with other informative proposals, such as different meetings and conferences on various topics, as well as the performance of the Youth Band of the Agrupació Musical L’Amistat de Quart de Poblet in the Plaza de la Virgen, and the concert of the Joven Orquesta Nacional de España.
From the 18th until yesterday, Sunday the 21st, the competitive sessions of the competition were held, which, after a five-year hiatus, returned to the Sala Iturbi of the Palau de la Música de València, ‘an emblematic venue that has become the world capital of wind music in this 136th edition’, stressed the councillor for Culture. The competition sessions were judged by a jury made up of experts Julius Williams, Eduardo Soutullo, José M. Sánchez Verdú, Juan J. Colomer and Verena Mösenbichler-Bryant.
The budget dedicated to the CIBM doubled
The Certamen Internacional de Bandas de Música is a centenary annual musical event, and it is the competition with the highest amount of money for prizes and participation. As underlined by the Mayoress, María José Catalá, this year ‘we have practically doubled the budget dedicated to the CIBM, to almost 600,000 euros, which is double the amount dedicated in 2023; and we have increased by 45% the economic endowment destined to prizes and incentives for participation’.
Although most of the participating groups came from the Valencian Community, bands from the rest of Spain and abroad also took part. Of the 21 bands competing in the third, second, first and honour sections, 15 were from the Valencia Region, 2 from Galicia, 1 from the autonomous community of Madrid, 1 from Castilla la Mancha, 1 from Colombia and 1 from Portugal.
The first prize winning bands in each of the sections of the CIBM were the following: honour section: Unió Musical de Llíria; third section, Banda Sinfónica de Samacá (Colombia); second section, Banda de Música Municipal de Caldas de Reis (Pontevedra); and first section, Banda Marcial do Vale (Portugal).
As guests in the different sections, to liven up the jury’s deliberations, 4 societies performed, 3 from Valencia and 1 from the United States: València Brass Ensemble, in the third section; El Cerrito High School Wind Symphony, in the second section; the Joven Banda Sinfónica de la Federación de Sociedades Musicales de la Comunidad Valenciana, in the first section; and the Banda Sinfónica Municipal de València, in the Honorary section.
In addition, during the course of the competition, the work of two people who have stood out for their contribution to the dissemination of this competition has been recognised: the journalist Octavio Hernández (posthumous recognition), and the composer and conductor Salvador Chuliá (honorary recognition for his musical career).
All the sessions could be followed live on the competition’s YouTube channel which, between 18 and 21 July, registered more than 78,000 views; and on the website, which had almost 1,000 views. In addition, the honour section has been broadcast in its entirety, for the first time, by À Punt.
http://www.cibm-valencia.com