ENSEMBLES 2025

OJPA - Alicante’s Youth Orchestra

The musical career is a long journey that begins at an early age, but few manage to complete it in its entirety. Aware of this reality, the Alicante’s Youth Orchestra (OJPA) was founded in 2009 as an initiative of its founder and conductor, Francisco Maestre. Since its inception, the OJPA has played a fundamental role in the training of more than 1,000 musicians, providing them with a sense of commitment and enthusiasm, and motivating them to reconnect with their musical education with passion. This unique project has the primary goal of fostering and developing the talent of young musicians throughout the province of Alicante. This entails a fundamental truth: training musicians also means educating young people by instilling values such as effort, perseverance, commitment, teamwork, and collaboration in a didactic and pedagogical manner, inspiring them to improve both in their discipline and in their daily lives. Currently, the OJPA is made up of more than 80 musicians between the ages of 7 and 25 and participates in concerts and competitions both nationally and internationally under the direction of its founder and conductor, Francisco Maestre. An experience capable of inspiring and shaping their future.

Francisco Maestre

Conductor

Principal Conductor and Artistic Director since 2009 of the Orquesta de Jóvenes de la Provincia de Alicante (OJPA) and Artistic Director of the Festival Internacional de Jóvenes Orquestas de Alicante (FIJO). Received formal training and development in Spain from Maestros Yaron Traub, Dima Slobodeniouk and José De Eusebio, and for three consecutive years, was selected to participate in the Annual Programme for Conductors in Saint Petersburg, Russia by Maestro Alexander Polyanichko. Has conducted the Symphony Orchestra of Galicia, Youth Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre, Palermo Classica Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of the Region of Murcia, National Youth Orchestra of Thailand, Eurasian Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of Saint Petersburg Vasiliev Ostrov, National Youth Philharmonic Orchestra of Turkey, Youth Orchestra of Rome, Orchestra d’Archi Giovanile della Svizzera Italiana, Amersfoorts Jeugd Orkest, National Youth Symphony Orchestra of Chile among others. He has made many recordings including Mozart’s Requiem for RNE (Radio Nacional de Espana). From 2014, he has been conducting annually at the Musikverein and Konzerthause in Vienna. He works and continues to collaborate with musicians like Shlomo Mintz, Sergei Redkin, Edicson Ruiz, Carla Leurs, Rusanda Panfili, Paye Srinarong, Lila, Sofia Vasheruk, Viktoria Yastrebova, Kateryna Titova, Rexa Han, Àlex Garrobé, Alfredo Ferre, Andrei Chestiglazov, Ignacio Rodes, José Sempere, Maite Alberola, María Eugenia Antúnez, Marcelo Guzzo, Suzanne Kantorski, Alok Kumar… 2012, he has directed the Teatro Monumental de Madrid, and participated in the most prestigious music festivals in Europe, like the Music Festival of Schleswig-Holstein (SHMF), Festival Palermo Classica, Festival Internacional de Jóvenes Orquesta de Alicante and Summa Cum Laude Youth Music Festival of Vienna, from where he gained the First Prize for the Symphony Orchestra category in 2015, 2017 y 2018. His commitment to contemporary music and composers led him to conduct the premiere in Spain of the Concert for Double Bass & Orchestra by R. Martinsson together with the soloist Edicson Ruiz of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Berlín, and the premiere in Europe of the Ópera: “Oh My Son”. In July 2014, he premiered “Libertadores” of Óscar Navarro and the Concert for Guitar and Orchestra of the composer Simone Iannarelli at the Festival Internacional de Guitarra “José Tomás”.

Competition Program

Additional Concerts Program