Franco Cesarini
showed since childhood a strong inclination for music. At the age of seven, he joined the children’s choir of Bellinzona (Switzerland), his hometown, where his talent soon established itself: fascinated by the world of sounds, he was able to reproduce the music he heard on the piano, and this before having learned any notion of music. Later it was time to seriously learn an instrument: he took his first steps on the piano, while his passion for the flute was born soon thereafter.

At the age of 11 he attended a concert by flautist Peter-Lukas Graf, which was to be decisive for his future choices. From the very first lessons he revealed a keen interest in understanding the mechanisms that lead to musical creation, remaining enchanted by the works of the great masters. Two composers in particular attracted his attention: Claude Debussy and Béla Bartók. The study of these composers encouraged him to create something on his own. With great enthusiasm he began to devote himself to composition.

At the age of 16, his parents enrolled him at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatoire in Milan, in piano and flute classes. Over time his passion for the flute took over, and he was admitted into the class of Peter-Lukas Graf at Basel Conservatoire, thus realizing a dream. Intense years of training followed, which saw him simultaneously engaged in his flute studies as well as in conducting and composition studies, progressively graduating in the three subjects.

Franco Cesarini found in his composition teacher, Robert Suter, a demanding personality who knew how to channel his predisposition, integrating it with the necessary writing discipline. His conducting teacher, Felix Hauswirth, introduced him to the fascinating world of wind music. During his studies he won the National Music Performance Competition and, with his Kriegslieder, he won the composition prize “European Year of Music 1985” in addition to winning, for three years in a row, the scholarship of the Ernst Göhner-Migros Foundation. ...

José R. Pascual-Vilaplana
Born on 30th April 1971 in Muro (Alicante) where he began his musical studies with the euphonium and piano in the Unión Musical de Muro, his teachers being Salvador Martínez and Mª Angeles Palacios. Later he continued his professional studies at the Municipal Conservatory of Alcoi and at the Higher Conservatory of Valencia. He studied Band Conducting with the Dutch maestro Jan COBER ("Brabants Conservatorium" in Tilburg) and with the North American conductor Eugene CORPORON (University of North Texas). He studied conducting in Vienna with Karl ÖSTERREICHER, Yuji YUHASA and Hans Graf. He has broadened his knowledge of conducting in various courses with professors such as James Croft, José Collado, Gerardo Pérez Busquier, Norman Milanés and George Pehlivanian. He studied Harmony and Composition with Rafael Alcaraz and Javier Darias.

He has attended Music Pedagogy Courses with the teachers Diego Ramón Lluch, Ana Lucía Frega and Maravillas Díaz at the Escola Comarcal de Música de la Vall d'Albaida.

Since 1988 he has studied band conducting with the Dutch maestro Jan COBER, taking several advanced courses in band conducting with Eugene CORPORON (University of North Texas). In 1993 he was selected for the speciality of Orchestra Conducting at the "Wiener Musikseminar" in Vienna, studying with Karl ÖSTERREICHER and Yuji YUHASA. In 1994 he attended James CROFT's conducting classes in Chicago at the 47th Mid West Band and Orchestra Clinic. Mid West Band and Orchestra Clinic".

In 1995 he obtained the Conducting Diploma of the "Wiener Meisterkurse für Musik" at the Musikhochschule Wien with Hans GRAF. He has broadened his knowledge of conducting in various courses with professors such as José Collado, Gerardo Pérez Busquier, Norman Milanés and Georges Pehlivanian.