Benidorm will award its 'Cultural Distinction' to the musician and director Juan Antonio Espinosa Zaragoza

The City Council will award its ‘Distinció Cultural Ciutat de Benidorm’ to the musician and director from Benidorm, Juan Antonio Espinosa Zaragoza. The Board of Spokespersons, convened by Mayor Toni Pérez, has adopted the proposal submitted by the commission in charge of this award, made up of the winners of previous editions. As usual, the ‘Distinció Cultural Ciutat de Benidorm’ will be awarded on October 9 during the institutional plenary session of the Day of the Valencian Community, which will be held in El Castell.

This distinction recognizes “the outstanding cultural merits” of Espinosa Zaragoza throughout his career as a teacher and director of various musical entities, as well as “his proven social projection”.

Currently, Espinosa Zaragoza is a professor of Piano at the Professional Conservatory ‘Guitarrista José Tomás’ in Alicante, professor of Orchestra at the Professional Music Center ‘Vila de Sant Joan’ and artistic director of the Musical Society ‘La Paz’ of this town. Throughout his long professional career, he has been linked to different musical projects in Benidorm, being the principal conductor of the Societat Musical l’Illa and the Ensemble de Saxofons, and also the pianist and assistant conductor of the Agrupación Coral.

Also as a conductor, he has been at the head of various musical entities in the province such as the Orquesta Sinfónico-Académica de San Vicente, the Sociedad Filarmónica Alteanense and the Societat Musical L’Aliança de Mutxamel. In addition, he has been the artistic director of the Orquesta Pro-Música de Alicante.

He began his musical studies in the Piano modality at the Óscar Esplá Conservatory of Music in Alicante, later training as an Orchestra conductor at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música in Madrid and Choir conductor at the Conservatorio Superior de Murcia. Throughout his training period, the Benidorm native has studied under the guidance of personalities from the musical field of each discipline.

As a performer, Espinosa Zaragoza has given concerts with important soloists of international standing inside and outside Spain; he has also participated as a conductor in different festivals in Portugal and Italy. In 2006, on the occasion of the Mozart Year, he was invited by the Austrian government to perform concerts in the emblematic cities of Innsbruck and Salzburg.

When proposing Espinosa Zaragoza, the commission in charge of the distinction also valued his “teaching and research experience” developed at the University of Alicante between 2002 and 2013, from which various scientific publications emerged, as well as “his particular connection to Benidorm”.