MAXIMINO ZUMALAVE

Orchestra conductor and pianist, Maximino Zumalave studied in Santiago, Madrid, Vienna and Stuttgart with Angel Brage, Guillermo González, Rosa Sabater, John Elliot Gardiner and Helmuth Rilling.

Founder and Principal Conductor of the Santiago University Choir (1979-1985) and the Collegium Compostellanum (1988). Principal Guest Conductor of the Galicia Symphony Orchestra (1992-1995) and co-founder of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia (1996), sharing the joint artistic direction with Helmuth Rilling until the year 2000. To date, he continues his association to this Orchestra as Principal Guest Conductor (and also as Joint Director of the School for Advanced Musical Studies in Santiago). In February 1995 he was inducted to the Royal Galician Academy of Arts.

Maximino Zumalave has worked with soloists of the stature of Tzimon Barto, Charlote Margiono, María Bayo, Ernesto Bitetti, Veronique Gens, Alicia de Larrocha, Rudolf Buchbinder, Aldo Ciccolini, Wolfgang Holzmair, Josep Colom, Iris Vermillion, the Labéque sisters, Nicolaus Lahusen, Agustín Leon Ara, Joaquín Achúcarro, Valentin Georghiu, Anthony Rolfe Jonson, Gyorgy Sandor, Alicia Nafé, Joaquín Soriano, María Orán, and Frank Peter Zimmermann, amongst others.

Frequent and very special is his collaboration with legendary mezzo Teresa Berganza, with whom he has performed in concert all over Europe.

Maestro Zumalave has conducted important international ensembles like the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Bach-Collegium, the English Baroque Soloists, The English Chamber Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Monteverdi Choir, the Choir of the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Sofia National Opera, the Brabants Orchestra Eindhoven, the National Orchestra of Lille, the Orkest van het Ossten, the Odense Symphony Orchestra, the Gächinger Kantorei, the Oporto Symphony Orchestra, etc.


In Spain, he has conducted the National Orchestra of Spain, the Madrid Symphony Orchestra, the City of Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Principality of Asturias, the Reina Sofía Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Seville, the City of Granada Orchestra, the RTVE Choir, the Prince of Asturias Foundation Choir, etc. His ample repertoire extends from Monteverdi and Bach to contemporary composers.

His activity in and outside Galicia has allowed him to share with the Galician public most of that repertoire, whilst he has likewise presented works of Galician composers to European audiences. This intense activity has produced many studio recordings and live radio and television broadcasts in Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, etc.

Maximino Zumalave has conducted world premieres of works by noted contemporary Spanish composers like Bernaola, Castillo, García Abril, Groba, Marco, Mestres Quadreny, Villa Rojo, etc, also championing young Galician composers such as Alonso, Balboa, Macías, de Paz, Pereiro, Vázquez or Viaño. He has also introduced to the Spanish public works by Frank Martin or Shostakovich.

In the field of non-classical music, he has collaborated in recordings and concerts with artists like the pop star Björk and the noted Celtic group Milladoiro (conducting the English Chamber Orchestra in the suite lacobus Magnus, recorded in London).

To commemorate Santiago de Compostela as European City of Culture 2000, maestro Zumalave conducted a pan-European choir of 90 young singers during a highly successful tour, beginning in Reykjavik and then performing in Brussels, Helsinki, Tallinn, Kracov, Avignon, Bologna, Santiago de Compostela, and Bergen.

Maximino Zumalave's intense educational activity frequently includes massive didactic concerts (he, for instance, once explained and conducted the Pastoral Symphony in front of near 14,000 students) and regular master classes as Chairman of Lyric Theatre at the International Music University in Compostela.

Maximino Zumalave was a Member of the Board of the Auditorium of Galicia, of the Council of Galician Culture, and founder of the Philharmonic Society of Compostela.

His love for Bach's music is well served not only in frequent performances, but also as a member of the Neue Bach Geselischaft (New Bach Society). He procured for Santiago de Compostela the Spanish seat for the courses of the International Bach Akademie.

In addition to this, maestro Zumalave has been invited in numerous occasions to participate as a member of the jury in many contests and international awards: President of the Jury of the 2003 edition of the "Mariele Ventre" awards for choirmasters in Bologna; President of the Jury of the Galician Music Awards 2002; President of the Jury of the International Piano Competition "Cidade de Ferrol" 2002 (and member of the jury in some of the previous editions); Member of the Jury of the "Andrés Gaos" composition awards (in several editions, the last one, the 5th, in 2003); Member of the Jury of the Auditorio de Galicia Composition Awards 2003; Member of the Jury for the selection of scholarship holders of the Foundation Pedro Barrié de la Maza in several occasions; Member of the jury for the selection of scholarship holders of the Delegation of A Corunna; Member of the commission of the Zuid-Nederlandse voor Hogeschool Muziek Maastricht; Member of the Jury of the 52º Concorso Polifonico Internazionale "Guido D' Arezzo" 2004.

And, in short, Zumalave is also, almost anecdotally, a composer, being the author of several polyphonic works for choir; of incidental music for theatre plays like "Freedom in Bremen" by Fassbinder; of religious music - Mass in Gallego for choir and organ - and various other pieces of chamber, voice and piano music.

The critics say

The Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra did their first tour in Spain in 1988. Maestro Zumalave conducted their presentation concert (broadcast live on Spanish television from the Teatro Real in Madrid), which respected journalist Ruiz Coca reviews thus in his paper (Ya): "the commitment of the musicians was complete and the results highly promising mainly judging by the flexible musicality with which the conductor faces the instrumental set... homogenous, sharpened and unanimous sound... the extraordinary quality of the playing served the clear concepts the maestro has of the scores (which he conducts from memory) ... the happiest moment occurred in the Romantic Serenade by Dvorak, which Zumalave led with natural fluidity and security."

Of that memorable evening in the Teatro Real, in his column in the ABC paper another respected Spanish critic, Antonio Fernandez-Cid, wrote: "His conceptual approach is serious, but his baton flies... maestro Zumalave obtained admirable pianissimi and shades of sound from his orchestra... joyful version of the precious Mozart Divertimento K 138, and later a multitude of colours and detail in the Dvorak Serenade... Great success, culminated at the end of the concert with the beautiful Mozart Divertimento K 136, and after a standing ovation, with a short romantic page of L'Arlesíenne, sung very well by the mesmerised orchestra".

Continuing his firm artistic trajectory with the National Orchestra of Spain, Maximino Zumalave made his presentation at the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid in another remarkable concert. The music critic from Spain's most widely read broad sheet, El País, Enrique Franco, wrote about it: "With a not at all populist or easy program, full of risky choices, maestro Zumalave made his debut conducting the National Orchestra of Spain. He is a sensible musician of great responsibility, a virtue made patently obvious in his interpretations of the Villa-Rojo premiere, and in Rachmaninov's Second, the latter an excellent version, the most detailed and conceptually transparent of the evening, and one which was rewarded by the public with a deserved standing ovation."

This unanimous opinion was also shared from the pages of rival broad sheet ABC by Antonio Fernández-Cid: "Maestro Zumalave, natural, precise and assured in his conducting of both works, later offered us a great, beautiful and very long version of the monumental Rachmaninov's Second Symphony, full of sweeping romanticism, lyric passages, and mighty melodies (...) Great success."

Another noted critic, Carlos Gómez Amat, writing for El Mundo, summarised the success very graphically: "Rachmaninov's Second Symphony can be a little heavy and overlong at times. Lead in the wings, one might say, but it certainly flies when conducted by a musician of such solid experience and clear assurance like maestro Zumalave in this occasion."

And, in short, Rafael Benedito in Ya, also applauds Zumalave's good work fronting the National Orchestra of Spain: "This concert gave many of us a rather welcome and long-awaited surprise: the fact that, in our country, there are indeed very good conductors. Pertaining to a new generation, Maximino Zumalave made music of the highest calibre (...)".