Madrid, 7 march 2023.- The Reina Sofía School of Music, centre for high level professional education established for several years as the best in Europe, will have within its academic offer, from the 2024-2025 academic year, the new “Zubin Mehta” Chair in Orchestra Conducting, with the support of Aline Foriel-Destezet, that will give way to an advanced Postgraduate Diploma.

The Chair will be led by Nicolás Pasquet and will count on Jordi Francés and Miguel Ángel Cañamero as associate professors.

The student selection will take place through auditions, the application period of which will open in October 2023. Until then, the Reina Sofía School of Music continues working to define the admission process, the study programme and the orchestras which will be available in their practice during the study of the subject and will be released in the coming months, ahead of the application period. 

Professor Nicolás Pasquet was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he studied violin and conducting. He later completed his studies at the Superior Music Academies in Stuttgart and Nuremberg, Germany.

In 1986 and 1987 Pasquet was selected for the National Young Conductors Program by the German Council of Music, and in 1987, he was awarded the First Prize at the 37th International Conducting Competition in Besançon, France.

Nicolás Pasquet has led several international concert tours with different national and foreign orchestras, travelling to Switzerland, Italy, Portugal, Latin America (Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, USA, Australia, South-Korea, Namibia and several countries in Southeast Asia).

From 1993 to 1996, he became Chief Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Pécs, Hungary, with which he toured nationally and internationally, in addition to conducting the regular concert series in Pécs and Budapest. In 1998, he was awarded the Béla Bartók/Ditta Pásztory Prize and the Lászlo-Lajtha Prize in Budapest in honor of his support, promotion, and performances of Hungarian music.

Jordi Francés develops an interesting activity characterised by a wide look on the artistic happening. As conductor, he lives between opera, the symphonic repertoire and the current creation. Among his most recent commitments are invitations from the National Orchestra of Spain, Teatro Real, Palau de les Arts de Valencia, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, the Community of Madrid Orchestra, Navarra Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of Valencia, Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, Principado de Asturias Symphony Orchestra, etc., as well as several projects with the Sonido Extremo Ensemble, of which he is artistic director. He has also conducted the BBC Phil., RTVE Orchestra, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, and many other ensembles in Europe and America.

Born in Valencia, where he began his music education at the José Iturbi Municipal Conservatory and at the Joaquín Rodrigo Conservatory, studying piano, organ and choir conducting, always obtaining the highest qualifications, as well as five honorary prizes and the José Iturbi Prize to the best Academic Record.

In 1999, with a scholarship by the Instituto Valenciano de la Música and after obtaining a diploma in the specialties of Piano and Choir Conduction, he entered the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest where he studied mastering courses with professors Gulyás Istvan (piano), Klezli János (voice), Kollár Éva and Erdei Péter (choir conducting). This period was decisive and of great influence on his training as conductor, when establishing contact with the great choral Hungarian and Central Europe tradition. In 2001 he was finalist and got the Special Prize at the First International Young Choir Conductor Competition, held in Budapest.