XAVIER PUIG
Born in 1973 in Cervera (Lleida), he began his musical studies with piano and violin at the Municipal Conservatory of his city and later expanded them at the Professional Conservatory of Badalona, where he obtained the higher title of teacher of harmony, counterpoint, composition and instrumentation, under the guidance of MA Hurtado, M. Roger, B. Casablancas and J. Soler.
At the same time, he began choral conducting at the Lleida International Choral Conducting Courses, where he studied with teachers Josep Prats, Johan Duijck, Laszlo Heltay and Jordi Casas (1990-1994). He continued this training at the European Management Courses, taught by Professor Pierre Cao in Catalonia (1996-1998), and at the Academie International de Pontarlier (France) (1997-1998).
He was introduced to orchestral conducting with maestro Salvador Mas at the Barcelona Conservatory and in 1999 he was admitted to the Universität für Musik und Darstelende Kunst in Vienna, where he studied orchestral conducting under the tutelage of Leopold Hager.
In March 2002 he won the position of assistant conductor of the Joven Orquesta Nacional de España (JONDE) in a competition and in July 2003 he won the position of assistant conductor of the Barcelona and National Symphony Orchestra of Catalonia (OBC), with which has conducted different concerts with works by Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Britten.
Since 2018 he has been the principal conductor of the Vallès Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Palau de la Música Catalana Chamber Choir. He also conducts the Girona Orchestra and the Chamber Choir of the Enric Granados Auditorium in Lleida. He has directed for twenty-five years the Ginesta Choir of Cervera, and the Murtra Ensemble, dedicated to the music of the 20th century. In the opera field, he founded the chamber opera company l'Opera de Tres Rals, dedicated to small-format opera, and currently directs several titles of the Ópera al Palau series. He has been guest conductor for numerous orchestras in the country and maintains a close relationship with Orquestra Terrassa 48, with which he will begin the comprehensive interpretation of Beethoven's symphonies.
He is a professor of orchestra and conducting at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC). He has been guest conductor in numerous youth orchestras and currently directs the Conducting Course of the Terrassa Orchestra.
JOSEP MIQUEL MINDAN
Born in Igualada on October 28, 1983, he began his musical studies at the Igualada School of Music at the age of five. Later, he completed a diploma as a teacher specializing in music education at the UAB. He has studied choral conducting at the ESMUC, Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya. In this period he has worked with: Mireia Barrera, Josep Vila and Johan Duijck. In 2008 he began conducting studies at the Wien Konservatorium Privat- universität in Vienna where he worked with Georg Mark, David Aronson and Guido Mancusi. He completed his training with a Masterclass by Pierre Cao, Jordi Mora, Antoni Ros Marbà, Alexander Joel and Manuel Hernàndez Silva.
He has been choir director for the productions: Le Nozze di Figaro 2008, Die Zauberflöte 2009, Suor Angelica 2010 and Dialogue des Carmélites 2011. The closing of his studies in Vienna took place on May 14, 2012 with a concert at the Radiokulturhaus with the Slowakische Philarmonie orchestra where he obtained the highest ratings.
He has conducted, among others, the Vallès Symphony Orchestra, the Ciudad de Elche Orchestra, the Wien Konservatorium Privat-universität Orchestra, the Slowakische Philarmonie, the Girona Orchestra, the Wiener Tonkunst-vereinigung, the Neues Atelier Wien, the Orchestra of the Real Cercle Artístic de Barcelona, the Camerata Eduard Toldrà, the Terrassa 48 Orchestra and the OTEM (Terres de Marca Orchestra) with which he maintains a close professional relationship. In the choral field, he has directed the Wiener Kammerchor as an assistant, the Anton Bruckner Choir of Barcelona, the EXAUDIO Women's Choir, Choram Publico of Vienna and the Cor Albada of the Cor Madrigal group.
He is currently musical director of the Anoia Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Tekhné Symphony, the Contrapunto Vocale choir and the Ginesta choir. In the opera field, it is worth highlighting the productions of Il Trovatore and La Traviata with the Vienna Opera company during the 2017 and 2018 seasons and the productions of La Traviata, La Bohème and La Flauta Màgica at the Palau de la Música Catalana.
QUIM TÉRMENS
OCT48 is directed from the violin by Quim Térmens, a musician from Sabadell who received his first violin training from Ofèlia Rodrigo and later studied with the violinist and teacher Gonçal Comellas with whom he trained musically and completed his higher studies . He has also received master classes from the violinists Arkadi Futer and Michel Barta. He has been awarded, among others, the First Arts Prize (20th century music section, Xavier Montsalvatge Prize) awarded by the Generalitat de Catalunya. In his years of career he has promoted the dissemination and knowledge of works written for strings, currently being a reference in this field. He has been a member of the Chamber Orchestra of the Palau de la Música Catalana and the Orchestra of Chamber Gonçal Comellas. He currently performs his most extensive work in the Arcattia project with concerts throughout the country and Costa Rica and has been awarded, among others, the Xavier Montsalvatge prize. Author of several children's shows such as Popoff, a clueless composer, Hartmann's paintings, Tumbuktú stories, Handel's button and Telemann and the story of Don Quixote; he is also the author of several compositions for student string orchestras. In the pedagogical field he has trained with personalities such as Sheila Nelson, Vaartan Manoogian and Mimi Zweig and is the author of several children's shows. He develops his teaching work at the Conservatory of Music in Vic as a violin teacher and director of its string orchestras and has been invited to talks on pedagogy, jury of instrumental and chamber competitions, director of youth orchestra meetings and as a violin teacher at the Principality of Andorra International Music Course. He is also currently the artistic director of the BBVA Festival of Religious Music in Vic.