Sunday 7th April 2024 at 5pm

St Paul's Church, Moor Lane, Kersal Moor, Salford, M7 3WX

Conductor - Marco Giudici

Leader -  Jon Henderson

 Soloist - Juan José Blázquez Garre

Mendelssohn - Trumpet Overture

Grieg  - Piano Concerto 

Beethoven  - 6th Symphony (Pastoral)

 Tickets available at the door (card payment preferred): Adults £10, under 16s and Students £5 

 NB: The Orchestra reserves the right to change the programme and venue according to the availability of music, venue and players.

 Marco Giudici 

After gaining his Diploma at the Conservatorio G. Verdi in Milan, Marco Giudici was principal clarinet of the Italian Youth Orchestra for two years. He then went on to study in Germany with internationally renowned performers and tutors E. Brunner and H. Deinzer, obtaining his soloist Diploma with Distinction.

He has performed as a freelance player both in Italy and England, working with orchestras such as the OSNR (National Italian Radio Orchestra), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, Lancashire Sinfonietta and the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.

At present he enjoys a rewarding teaching career. Some of his students have become members of youth orchestras such as the National youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Hallé Youth Orchestra, Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and were offered places to study at many music colleges.

In recent years Marco has studied conducting both at the London Conducting Academy and with Eduardo Portal. He regularly conducts school orchestras as well as the Ambleside and District Choral Society in the Lake District.

  Juan José Blázquez Garre

Born in Lorca (Spain) in 1998, he began his piano studies at the “Narciso Yepes” Professional Conservatory of Lorca in 2006. He completed his piano studies at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid in 2020, under the guidance of Ana Guijarro, having previously studied with Pilar Bilbao Iturburu; and then in the RNCM with Graham Scott and Kathryn Stott. He continues studying his Postgraduate Diploma at the RNCM in Manchester with Kathryn Stott.

Juanjo has received masterclasses from teachers such as Lilya Zilberstein, Anna Malikova, Stefan Vladar, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Stephen Hugh, Eldar Nebolsin, Claudio Martínez-Mehner, and Eliso Virsaladze among others.

He has performed all over Spain and UK, and the ALTI Hall in Kyoto. Juanjo performed as a soloist Tchaikovsky’s 1st Piano Concerto at Madrid’s National Auditorium with the María Rodrigo Symphony Orchestra, and with Getafe Symphony Orchestra. Furthermore, he performed Mozart Concerto in D minor with Salford Symphony Orchestra and Tchaikovsky again with Aylesbury Symphony Orchestra. In UK Juanjo is part of the Talent Unlimited charity.

Juanjo has won prizes in national and international competitions such as the “Ciudad de Albacete”, the “Entre Cuerdas y Metales”, the “Almudena Cano”, “Tiziano Rossetti”, “Gloria Artis”, “Golden Piano Talents” and “ClaMo” International competition. Winner of the 2022 Emmanuel Prize in Manchester.
He is also a fellow of the prestigious “La Caixa” Foundation, recipent of the "FW Wright Piano Scholarship" endowed by the RNCM , and he was chosen to represent Spain in the "Kyoto International music students festival" in 2019, receiving outstanding reviews. He recently appeared in the issue n.83 of International Piano Magazine in June, which reviewed the charity concert in favour of the Disasters Committee Ukraine Appeal and A Bed Every Night.

In UK, Juanjo collaborates with the Olympias Music Foundation, which brings music education and experience to those who don’t have access to it, and with the LGBTQ+ Choir, the Rainbow People, which brings inclusion and a safe space to queer people in Manchester.