ABOUT
Beginnings
Salvador Brotons was born in Barcelona into a family of musicians.
He studied flute with his father and continued his musical studies at the Barcelona Music Conservatory where he earned advanced degrees in flute, composition and conducting.
From 1977 to 1985 he was principal flute of the Orquestra de Gran Teatre del Liceu de Barcelona and also a member of the Orquestra Ciutat de Barcelona (1981-1985). During this period he gained a lot of experience as an orchestra musician working under great conductors and being exposed to the great repertory. In 1985 he won a Fulbright scholarship and moved to the US where he obtained a doctorate in music from the “Florida State University”
Musical output
Salvador has been composing since the age of 14. He has written more than 160 compositions of a wide variety of genres: orchestra works, concerti and sonatas for almost all instruments, operas and vocal music, among others. He studied composition with renowned Catalan composers such as Xavier Montsalvatge and Manuel Oltra at the Barcelona Conservatory, and John Boda and Roy Johnson at the Florida State University.
Brotons intends to express himself in a communicative, deep, contrasting, colorful and balanced style in a personal contemporary language.
He has received commissions from different institutions such as Orquesta de la RTVE (1995), Conferenza dil Mediterraneo, Sicilia-Italia (1997), Generalitat de Catalunya 1998, Fundación Cervantes de Varsocia (1999), Festival Pau Casals (2000), UNICEF (2002), Eurocongrés (2004), Raanana Symphonette (2005), Festival Música Española (2006), Consulat de Polònia a Barcelona (2009), Orquestra Ciutat de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya ( 2010), Orquesta Nacional de España (2011), Lira Castellonera de Villanueva de Castellón, (2012 and 2019), Auditori de Barcelona, (2021)
Many of his works have been published and various CDs have been recorded in Europe and in the US for labels such as Naxos, EMI, Auvidis, Albany Records, Keys, Harmonia Mundi, RNE, etc.
Salvador Brotons was composer in residence at the Palau de la Música Catalana during the 2016-2017 season.
Salvador started conducting as a result of composing, due to the need to personally advocate for the written work. “Conducting helped me to get to know the great composers in depth and to enjoy their extraordinary music. I’ve always thought that conducting is the culmination of a great musician, who is respected for playing one or two instruments very well, and who knows orchestration and orchestra in detail.” - says Salvador.
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He studied conducting with Antoni Ros Marbà at the Conservatori Superior de Música de Barcelona and Phillip Spurgeon at the Florida State University
When he was studying in Florida State University, he was given the position of assistant conductor of the Florida State University Symphony Orchestra (1986-87). From there, he started developing his conducting career.
In Spain he has been the music director and conductor of the Orquestra Simfònica de les Illes Balears “Ciutat de Palma” (1997-2001, 2009-2013) and the Orquestra Sinfónica del Vallés (1997-2002) and the Barcelona Symphonic Band (2007-2018).
In the US he has been the conductor and music director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (Washington State) since 1991. He has guest conducted important international orchestras in Czech Republic (Radio Praga), Germany (Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra), South Africa (National Symphony Orchestra), Israel (Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Raanana Symphonette, Kibbutz Orchestra), Italy (I Pomeriggi Musicali de Milan), Belgium (Orchestre des Guides), Uruguay (Filarmónica de Montevideo), Venezuela (Orquesta Simón Bolívar), Colombia (Orquesta Nacional), USA (Blue Lake Festival Orchestra; Columbia Symphony, York Symphony Orchestra, Tallahassee Symphony, Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra) South Korea (Bucheon Symphony and Wonju Symphony) and the majority of orchestras in Spain.
Awards
Salvador has won major composition awards, including, “Premio Orquesta Nacional de España” (1977), por his Four Pieces for Strings; the prize “Jove d’Or” (1980), the “Premio Ciutat de Barcelona” (in 1983 for his First Symphony, and in 1986 his piece Absences for narrator and orchestra), “Southeastern Composers League Award” for his Sinfonietta da Camera (1986) “The Madison University Flute Choir Composition Award” (1987) for his Flute Suite and the “Premio Reina Sofia of Composition" (1991) for his work Virtus for orchestra.
In 2002 he obtained the Florida State University Alumni Award for his professional achievements and in February 2005, he was invited by the Carleton College de Minnesota (USA) as the Chistopher Light special guest Lecturer. In 2008 he received the Agustí Burgunyó award.
In 2005 he received the “Arts Council” award by the Clark County and the city of Vancouver, the Kiwanis Rose Award. In 2020 he received the “Lifetime Achievement Award “ by the Clark County Arts Commission
