Joaquín de la Cuesta González

Orchestra & Choir Conductor

Double Bass & Electric Bass Player

Born in Lleida (Spain, 1961) begins his music studies with the piano in Balaguer (Lleida), in the María Canals’s Academy in Barcelona and with Anna Mª Albors.

He obtains the Double Bass Degree, Orchestra and Choir Conductor Diplome in Barcelona High Conservatorium and the Electric Bass Diplome in the Aula de Música Moderna y Jazz at the same town. (Berklee College of Music Program). He has Specialized Pedagogical Education in different Music Education Systems: Willems, Kodaly, Orff, etc. Also he is Licenciate of Royal Schools of Music in Symphony Orchestra Direction (ABRSM)

His principal teachers were Ferrán Sala, Rafael de la Vega, Carles Comalada, Salvador Mas, Albert Argudo, Fco. Navarro Lara, Missak Baghboudarian, Gregorio Estrada, Juan Carlos Dos Santos y Yuri Galyas, receiving Improvement Courses and Master Classes with Helmuth Rilling, Erik Eriksson, Duncan Mctier, Ludwig Streicher, Manel Cabero, Bernardo Adam Ferrero, Francesc Llongueras, Theodor Gölner, H.H. Eggebrecht, Carl Schachter, Gary Burton, Alexander C. Maschat.

Double Bass Player in the Spain National Young Orchestra (JONDE), Orquesta Sinfónica del Vallés (Sabadell) or the the Sinfóníuhljómsveit Nordurlands (North Iceland Symphony Orchestra), and he did work and colaborate in his country with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Barcelona y Nacional de Catalunya (OBC), Orquesta del Liceu, Orquesta de Cámara Catalana, Orquesta de Cámara del Empordà, Camerata de Barcelona, Orquesta Solistas de Barcelona, La Lira Numantina (Soria) or the O.I.D.O. Symphony Orchestra (Huelva)

With extensive teaching experience of more than 40 years, working as teacher of various instrumental and ensemble specialties and as specialist in children's musical education, he has been a teacher of Double Bass and Electric Bass at the Egilsstadir Music School (Iceland), Director, Head of Studies, Coordinator or Teacher of different music schools in Catalonia (Torroella de Montgrí, Balaguer), Madrid (Robledo de Chavela, Ciempozuelos), Burgos (Salas de los Infantes), Soria (Almazán), Ibiza or Sta. Cruz de Tenerife. He has also been Director of the Tenerife Vocal Academy (T-VAc). He is currently a teacher in various disciplines and director of several groups at the Skagafjördur Tónlistarskóli (Iceland) and at the Tónadans Academy.

He also was President of the Catalan Association of Music Schools in 2006 and Pedagogical and Organization Coordinator of the Servimúsica Company or Pedagogical Coordinator of the School of Modern Music of the Canary Islands (EMA) as specialist in Management and Teaching Organization of Music Education Centers.

He was part of the Soria Municipal Music Wind Band as a collaborator, and composer, creator and producer of several musical works for children (Cantatas), as well as for school auditions, between 2015-and 2017.
In Iceland he has directed several theatrical musical shows for children: The Nutcracker (2021), The Carnival of the Animals (2022) and Hansel & Gretel is planned (2024)

He has been Double Bassist with Selas 20, together with Matti Saarinen (Guitarist). Likewise with the Electric Bass and Double Bass he has been musician and collaborator with different singers, jazz and blues formations (Blues from Picolat-France, Bob Ackerman & Pam Purvis Iceland Tour), orchestras and recordings for tv, radio and records, being also founder of the Egilsstadir Jazz Quartet in Iceland. He has recorded the entire 6 Suites for Solo Violoncello by JS Bach in an unpublished version for Electric Bass, a disc that was presented in Soria in 2014 and with several presentation concerts in Spain and Norway.

As Choir Director, he has been Assistant Conductor of the Gaudium Musicae Choir (Ricard Matas Musicology Institute - UAB Barcelona 1980-3), Conductor of various formations such as the Societat Coral el Vallés (1984-90), Coro El Gaviá (1995), Choir of White Voices of EMM Balaguer (1990-92), Coro Anselm Viola (1996 - 2001), or the Capella de Música de San Genís (2002-5), Assistant to the Choir of Salas de los Infantes (2010-11), of the Octeto Vocal Wind Classic Singers (2017-20) and of the Canarias Children Choir (2018-20).

In the world of Orchestral Conducting, he was assistant conductor with the Orchestra of the Barcelona Municipal Superior Conservatory of Music or Co-Director of the NeoFilarmonia Symphony Orchestra (Huelva). He was Principal Conductor of La Noguera Chamber Orchestra, the Orquestra Sinfónica Jove del Casino Menestral Figuerenc, the Camerata Sinfónica de Catalunya, the instrumental group of old music Il Thematico Academico, making various tours of Spain, France, Italy, Germany or Belgium between 1993 and 2001. He was a Guest Conductor in 2014, by the Ringebu BrassBand (Norway) and at its 2014 Summer Festival. He is currently the Principal Conductor of the Teobaldo Power Chamber Orchestra in Tenerife. He was a guest conductor in 2014 for the Ringebu BrassBand (Norway) and at their 2014 Summer Festival.

His work as composer, orchestrator and musicological researcher deserves a separate chapter, which has led him to specialize in Spanish Symphonic Music of the 19th century and the first third of the 20th. Some of his works have been: Orchestration for the Symphonic Orchestra of the “Piano Quintet” by the American film composer Jerome Moross and premiered as Conductor in Lladó (Girona) by OJCM and Jordi Vilaprinyó-piano (2013), currently the Jerome Moross Fund (USA), Composition of the Patronal Hymn to the Virgen de la Herrería (El Escorial-Madrid), premiered at El Escorial as conducting the OJCM, Transcription of all the conserved Work of Mtro. De Capilla de Torroella de Montgrí (XVIII), Esteve Prat, (2002) or the public recovery in concert the 17th and 18th Centuries Sant Genís Chapel of Music Compositions: works by Soler, Giuseppe Scarlatti.

A good connoisseur of Schumann, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Dvorak or Brahms, currently a good part of his work as a conductor and music researcher, also focuses on the recovery of unpublished musical materials, with their corresponding critical edition, and on putting on music stands for symphonic and chamber orchestras, of Spanish instrumental compositions, both symphonic and with concert instruments or for chamber orchestra.

He is currently the Principal Conductor of the Teobaldo Power Chamber Orchestra in Tenerife (Spain), Principal Conductor of the KammerFilharmónía Nodurland (Iceland) and collaborating conductor of the Spicatto Strengjasveit (Iceland).

All this, together with his experience in management (for which he has been invited as a speaker at various events and publications) and specialized management for artists, allows him to create all the organization of his own musical projects such as those of musical historical recovery (works by Canarian composers) or new musical and artistic proposals such as a German version of Mozart's Requiem for Chorus and String Orchestra (from the 19th century), his proposal "from Modern to Modernism", with an orchestral musical journey through of the XIX & XX Spanish, together with other visual artists such as Enrique Oramas from Tenerife, his proposal “Entre Nosotros”, focusing on the cultural interrelation of music for Latin American and Spanish. Or a short season in Iceland with the KammerFilharmónía Nodurland, with 5 concerts titled

“In Black and White, Snow and Sky” (Svart og Hvítt, snjór og himinn)
“Warm Melodies of Spain” (Hlýdar lag frá Spáni)
“Autumn Leaves” (HaustLauf)
“Christmas Strings” (Jólastrengir)
“Violin, Bow and company: a journey to sound” (Fidlu, Boga og Kompaní: ferd til hljóds

He has been awarded the Bronze Medal at the (Bielorus National RTV Symphony Orchestra, International Conducting Competition) (January 2019, Minsk), and the Silver Medal at the International Orchestra Conducting Competition, of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Villena ( April 2019, Alicante - Spain).

In November 2019, he conducted the Wiener Possymphony and the Romanian solo flutist Matei Iochmescu at the Wien Yamaha Concert Hall. In November 2019 he was invited to conduct at the Wien Yamaha Center etc.