Juan Antonio Gallastegui Roca (born 1979) is a Spanish musician, composer, and conductor, based in the United States.
Biography.
He was born in Castro Urdiales (Cantabria) in 1979. He is the youngest of seven siblings. He is the son of the musician Juan Antonio Gallastegui Ruiz, of Basque origin from Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Country), who was a member of the Municipal Wind Orchestra of Castro Urdiales.
He began his music studies in Castro Urdiales in 1989. He was a member of the Municipal Wind Orchestra of Castro Urdiales as principal euphonium player between 1990 and 2012, a band which also included his father and uncle. In 2003 he was co-founder of the Castro Urdiales Municipal Wind Orchestra Association.
He earned his bachelor's degree in tuba and his bachelor's degree in tuba pedagogy from the Navarra Higher Music Conservatory (CSMN) of Navarre in 2010. He got a bachelor's degree (BA) in History and Music Sciences from the University of La Rioja in 2011. He subsequently completed a postgraduate degree in conducting aesthetics at the Transilvania University of Brașov (Romania) in 2013.
In 2014 he was awarded the Rafael del Pino Excellence Scholarship awarded by the Rafael del Pino Foundation for postgraduate studies abroad. He completed a master's degree in orchestral conducting at Bard College Conservatory of Music in New York City in 2015.
During his training at Bard College, he served as assistant conductor of the Bard College Conductors Institute Summer Orchestra and the Conservatory Orchestra, where he was mentored by American conductor Harold Farberman.
In March 2015, he conducted the revival of Harold Farberman's opera "Medea", the first performance of the work since its premiere in 1963.
Gallastegui was a student of the maestro Enrique García Asensio who was a disciple and assistant conductor of Sergiu Celibidache. In addition to García Asensio, Gallastegui has also studied with teachers including Harold Farberman, Jorma Panula, Apo Hsu, Lawrence Golan, Mark Gibson, and Leon Botstein, among others.
In 2016, he was principal euphonium of the New York Wind Symphony Orchestra in New York City, invited by Dutch conductor Johan de Meij.
From 2016 to 2017, he was conductor of the Loudoun Symphony Orchestra in Ashburn (Virginia).
He received his doctorate in musicology from the University of La Rioja in 2017 with the thesis "Phenomenology of the music of Sergiu Celibidache and its influence on orchestral conducting in Spain" ("Fenomenología de la música de Sergiu Celibidache y su influencia en la dirección de orquesta en España", in Spanish), directed by Thomas Schmitt, a thesis about Romanian conductor Sergiu Celibidache, one of the most influential conductors in the conducting technique used in Spain.
In September 2019, Gallastegui was guest conductor to lead the opening concert of the 5th season (2019-2020) of the D.C. Strings Orchestra in Washington, D.C.. The concert was a notable success, and in October 2020 he was appointed principal conductor of the D.C. Strings Orchestra. As conductor of the DC Strings Orchestra, in 2021 he conducted, among others, the concert of the Spanish composer Jorge Tabarés with the work "Dos danzas hispanas".
In 2022, Gallastegui was invited to conduct the Musikene Symphonic Orchestra (Basque Country), in which he himself had previously played.
In January 2019 Gallastegui became associate Music Director of the Rockville Concert Band of Rockville (Maryland), after being chosen by the band members and after a successful first concert as a guest conductor, and in September 2020 he was officially appointed Music Director, becoming the 6th Music Director of the Rockville Concert Band. As musical director, he directed and conducted various musical productions, including the production "The Year 2020" in 2022, a piece about the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and to honor those affected by the coronavirus pandemic, composed by Dutch composer Johan de Meij. The work was conducted by Gallastegui and had its premiere March 2022 at the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre in Rockville (Maryland). Gallastegui himself declared that "hearing music can also be like therapy. Music can help all of us keep going. Music comes to help people, to help with the healing process, with the reflection period".
In 2023, he was appointed Music Director of the Rogue Valley Symphonic Band (RVSB) in Ashland (Oregon). Since 2024, he has served as Executive Director of the Bremerton WestSound Symphony Orchestra in Bremerton (Washington).
Gallastegui is a member of the Conductors Guild, the League of American Orchestras, and the American Musicological Society.
He has been based in the United States since 2013.
Personal life.
Gallastegui currently resides in the United States. He is married to American conductor JoAnna Cochenet. In 2021 he became a naturalized American, currently being Spanish and American.
Orchestrations.
For orchestra:
Published by the University of Navarra and performed by the Navarra Symphony Orchestra.