José Luis Cortell
The horn player José Luis Cortell joins Opera by the Fjord for the first time in 2024, to teach and be section leader for the brass students in this years Summer Academy.
José Luis Cortell holds a Bachelor Degree from the “Conservatori Superior de Música Joaquín Rodrigo” in Valencia in Spain, where he studied with Prof. Miguel Torres, and a Master’s Degree from the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt, Germany, where he studied with Prof. Esa Tapani.
During his studies he played as Principal Horn in many Youth Orchestras, such as Valencia University Orchestra “OFUV”, Spanish Youth Orchestra “JONDE” and Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival (SHMF).
Cortell is regularly invited to play as guest Principal Horn in several orchestras, such as Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. At age 23 he held his first position in a professional orchestra as Co-Principal horn at the “Stadttheater Giessen” (Germany). Moreover, José Luis has played with orchestras such as West-eastern Divan Orchester, Berliner Symphoniker, Orchester Kamerata Salzburg, Frankfurter Opern-Museumsorchester, Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquestra del Palau de les Arts de Valencia among others.
Cortell has given Horn Masterclasses in several Music Universities, such as College of Music Seoul National University in South Korea, Sibelius Academy in Finland, Conservatorio Superior de Música de Castellón in Spain, Conservatorio Superior de Música de Alicante in Spain and HfMDK Frankfurt am Main in Germany.
He has been acting as Jury and artist at the Lieksa brass week 2022, International Horn Competition in Finland. He is a founder and a member of Lumo Quintet (Wood wind quintet), winners of the 2nd prize at the 13th Lyon International Chamber Music Competition and winners of the best interpretation of the Silvestrini Wind Quintet.
In 2016 José Luis founded the “Valencia International Music Festival” and he is the General Director since then. This Music Festival (FIMValencia), brings to Valencia every summer more than 50 professors and artists from the most important Universities and Orchestras around the world and having more than 200 participants every single year.
José Luis Cortell has been the Alternating Principal Horn at the Finnish National Opera Orchestra since 2015. In addition, he is playing as a Principal Horn at the Finnish Radio Orchestra for the spring season 2024.
Published January 2024