• Thanks to the agreement, students from the school will be able to carry out academic internships in the official orchestra of Navarre.
• The agreement was signed by Rubén Jauquicoa, managing director of the Baluarte Foundation and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra, and Paloma O'Shea, founding president of the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía.

Madrid, 16 September 2024. The Baluarte Foundation and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra/Navarroako Orkestra Sinfonikoa (OSN/NOS) have signed a collaboration agreement with the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía. The agreement was signed by Rubén Jauquicoa, managing director of the Foundation and the Orchestra, and Paloma O'Shea, founding president of the School. Also present was Òscar Colomina, Dean of the School.

Thanks to the agreement, students from the school will be able to carry out internships in the musical group, within the framework of the different academic programmes of the School. The Baluarte Foundation and the OSN/NOS join other national and international institutions in the field of music that will participate from the beginning in the new ‘Zubin Mehta’ Chair of Conducting at the Queen Sofia School.

The first practice session for the students of the Chair will consist of a rehearsal session with the OSN/NOS and its principal teacher, Nicolás Pasquet. The Orchestra will select the students who will subsequently participate in different concerts and activities.

Improving training and employability

Paloma O'Shea said, ‘I am very grateful to the Fundación Baluarte and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra for this collaboration, thanks to which our Orchestra Conducting students will be able to work with a highly prestigious professional orchestra. It is an exceptional opportunity for the artistic development of our young musicians and I am convinced that it will be very beneficial for their training’. 

For his part, Rubén Jauquicoa said that this agreement is in addition to the collaborations that the Baluarte Foundation and the official orchestra of the Comunidad Foral maintain with educational institutions in Navarre and other autonomous communities and that its aim is to ‘guarantee the future of the symphonic music sector through better training and employability of the new generations of professionals’, he said.