Five welcomes and one goodbye at Santa Cecilia Concert by S. M. l’Illa Band of Benidorm

The mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, along with the Councillor for Culture, Jaime Jesús Pérez, and other members of the band, were present. Also in attendance was the regional deputy, José Ramón González de Zárate.

Before an audience of nearly 300 people, the band, conducted by its director, Felipe Juan Lanuza, welcomed five new musicians who, from today, formally join the ensemble: clarinettists Eva María Rubio, Hugo Botella, Jordi Polo, and Aitana Izquierdo, and trumpeter David Devesa Ripoll.

The band performed two pieces in their world premiere: the pasodoble ‘Ciclant’ by Josep Cano and ‘Mambodulan’ by Ximo Cano. Following the performance of this piece, the trumpet part of the piece, dedicated to him, was presented to Pepe Antón.

The concert continued with Manuel Palau's "Coplas de mi tierra," followed by the presentation of the society's insignia to musicians Antón Alemany and Francisco José Teuler, who had completed 25 years with the band. Lanuza then conducted Miguel Asins' suite "Anem," divided into four parts: "Folies," "Dolçainers," "Rat penat," and "Cançoneta." The concert concluded with Georges Bizet's suite "Carmen," in three sections: "Overture," "Havanera," and "Cançó del torejador," which brought the afternoon's official program to a close, but not the concert itself.

After ten years conducting the S.M. l’Illa de Benidorm, Felipe Juan Lanuza is leaving behind the baton and a lasting mark on society. The entire band and the audience paid tribute to the musician, who bid farewell by thanking his former bandmates for their work and the affection shown to him by the city of Benidorm from the very beginning.

With “una cançoneta i mo n’anem” (a little song and we’re off), the phrase with which he ended the band’s rehearsals during this time, he took up the baton for the last time to lead l’Illa in a performance of the pasodoble ‘Andrés contrabandista’ by Óscar Navarro, precisely the first piece he conducted with the group.