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The Banda Municipal of Santa Cruz de Tenerife was founded after the motion signed by several council members in the plenary session on 25 June 1902, in which the following aims were agreed: to "create a music academy and a municipal music band paid with funds from the townhall; to appoint a special commission, advised by the musicians and neighbours, to formulate a draft basis for the organization of such Academy and Band ".
The first regulation took place in 1903, which contained the operating rules of the Band and it was renamed as “Municipal”. His first performance took place on May 1st of the same year, in the Alameda Prince Alfonso.
The first conductor was Ricardo de la Sendra y Rius from Valencia ( Spain). In 1908 he was replaced by Regino Ariz Cía, who apparently boosted significantly the activity of the Band.
In 1912 and for a year, Luis Espinosa de los Montero substituted him. Then, in 1913 arrived Braulio Uralde Bringas, who gave the band another big boost, increasing the staffing and the salaries of the teachers. Of this time is the current instrumentation for Band of the Cantos Canarios, held in Cuba in one of the Master’s trips to Havana.
Master José Carreras Grimaud was the conductor of the band in 1915 for a short period of time.
From 1916 to 1928 it was the turn of Fernando Cobeño Heredia, and in 1928 came the master Evaristo Iceta Ciarán, who leaded the management until 1957. He was succeeded by the then deputy director of the Band, coming from La Laguna, Antonio González Ferrera. In the beginning of 1958 the master José Pareja began to conduct, remaining at the forefront of the Band’s management until 1971.
A new director, Crescencio Díaz Felipe, took possession in 1971 and left in 1979. He was replaced by Agustín Ramos Ramos, who remained in the direction until 1981. José Diéguez Gamallo followed until retiring in 1985. It was this musician the last to belong to the extinct roster of directors as state officials.
From 1985 to June 2000, it was the turn of José Julio Sánchez Fleitas, who was followed by Jose Antonio Díaz León. Since March 2002, Felipe Neri Gil Marrero conducts the Band.
The band currently owns 55 professional musicians, whose job stability allows them to have long and intense rehearsals in order to provide high-level concerts.
Four generations of people of Santa Cruz have enjoyed their music, as the Municipal Band of the capital celebrates a hundred years of uninterrupted performances.
Special relief have, in recent years, their performances during the Quincentenary of the founding of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the recording of their third CD, the opening of the Auditorium of the Villa of Arafo, and their participation in Valencia in the "II. International Music Week", invited by the Culture Royal Academy of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
The Municipal Band counts in its recent history with Plenum awards given by the municipalities of Güimar and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The Band received the "Añavingo" award in the 1999 edition by the "Cultural and Recreational Center" of Arafo.
In March 2003, the Municipal Band moved to Valencia where it made a cultural exchange with the Municipal Band of Valencia, who also commemorated the centenary of its foundation, performing on Sunday 31st at the Palau de la Música. In this displacement to the Peninsula, the Band also offered a concert in the city of Lliria, invited by Lliria’s Musical Union.
The Municipal Band received congratulations for his Centenary from the Casino de Tenerife. Güímar’s City Council has granted the Band the "Miguel Castillo" Music Award 2003 in the Institutions modality.
In November, the band traveled to Bilbao to offer different concerts in Basauri Anzokia and the Arriaga Theatres, invited by the City Council on the occasion of our first centenary.
In 2004, the Band received the Gold Medal by Arafo City Council on the occasion of its centennial.
During the month of July 2004 and 2005 the Band traveled back to Valencia to close on both occasions, the "International Festival of Bands City of Valencia", being the only Band in the history of the Festival, which performed consecutively in the closing concerts.
From Oct.1s until October 15th 2004, in response to the invitation by the countries of Uruguay and Argentina, the Band offered concerts in the cities of Montevideo, Colonia, Maldonado and Tala in Uruguay and in Buenos Aires in Argentina.
Soloists as Benito Cabrera, Kepa Junkera, Victor Batista, and Ernesto Javier Lasso Chuliá and different teachers-musicians of our Municipal Band have collaborated with the Band. Also guest conductors as José Rafael Pascual-Vilaplana, Rafael Sanz Espert, Juan Foriscot, Llorenç Mendoza and Felipe Crescencio Diaz.
The Band has also counted on the presence of such composers as Amando Blanquer, Jan Van der Roost Franco Cesarini, Philip Sparke, Gregory Frittze in management courses, where they have interpreted various works of these composers, some of them being released in Spain by the Municipal Band of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the authors, conducting the works for themselves.
Since 2000, cycles with four functions of Educational Concerts for schoolchildren and a family concert have been included in the programming. Educational concerts are scheduled for three groups of students, "babies", "children" and "youth" and two different concerts for every age group take place every year. In all of them we counted with Moisés Évora de la Rosa, as Narrator and Educational Consultant.