The management of the Palau de les Arts de Valencia Queen Sofia in Valencia announces that the American conductor James Gaffigan will not renew his contract and will leave the musical direction of the Spanish institution at the end of the 2024/2025 season.
In office since 2021 for a 4-year term, James Gaffigan will not renew his contract and will leave his position as musical director Palau de les Arts de Valencia Reine Sofia on August 31, 2025. The reasons for this decision have not been specified, nor the terms of recruitment of the future boss of the Valencian orchestra.
In a press release, the American conductor confides: “Valencia will always hold a special place in my heart. I leave with the conviction that I am leaving Les Arts and its orchestra in an exceptional situation and that my successor will continue to build on this foundation.” For his part, Jesús Iglesias Noriega, artistic director of the institution, thanks “James Gaffigan for his involvement in one of the main objectives of this new Arts scene: opening up to new audiences and its connection with the Valencian territory.”
James Gaffigan allowed the Valencian band to increase from 54 to 76 musicians
The management of the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana (OCV) adds that, during his tenure, James Gaffigan has allowed the training to grow from 54 to 76 musicians and that his work has seen “expanding the repertoire, developing and strengthening the orchestra“, citing in particular the first of Requiem of Mozart, in the staging of Romeo Castellucci, and of Wozzeck by Alban Berg, as well as the returns to Valencia of Wagnerian opera with Tristan and Isolde and Russian repertoire with The Queen of Spades de Tchaïkovski.
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By the end of the year, the 45-year-old American maestro will conduct the Valencia orchestra in two concerts (December 20 and 21) devoted to works by César Franck and Francisco Coll. He will continue on December 23 and 27 with 2 performances at the Berlin Comic Opera, of which he has also been the musical director for a year. The Palau de les Arts Queen Sofia specifies that James Gaffigan will return to Valencia to conduct, as guest conductor, an opera during the 2025/2026 season.
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