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On June 24, at 7:30 p.m., we will hold a concert at the Azkuna Zentroa in Bilbao with the Basque dance group Aiko. It has been called BANDtzaldia and it is the first time in its history that the Bilbao Band will play a pilgrimage...

The Bilbao Band was founded around 1867 and in 1883 the mayor banned dance in the Arenal. The band was gradually stripped of all the danceable repertoire. This time, people will be able to enjoy music with their whole bodies.

There are directors who say that 6 words will be enough to perfectly direct an orchestra; faster/slower, louder/quieter, longer/shorter. But in your case, you tell us about the environment of the work, its internal structure, you show us the tricks and internal sutures of the composers. The intellectual work that goes further than moving the concert forward is remarkable.

Oh, yes, absolutely. I know that school of management and I've discussed this with colleagues who don't like my way. I respect it: there are directors who use six words and even more; there are also musicians who like to use only six words. But like St. Thomas, I will change my attitude when I see that I am wrong. And my experience has shown me this: when I make the musicians feel part of the process of maturation of the work and transmit to them what my idea is, the group improves and over time becomes more and more solid. For me there is a basic idea: the director must not give orders, the group of individuals must be commanded. And if I have to give the team an explanation for that, I give it to them. Going through a technical request with a watchful explanation creates a line of work and over time this way of working is much more efficient. It’s not that I’m smarter, I know we are smarter, I... it’s that I work hard to reach that conclusion before, a deep reflection. It gives strength to my work.

And that gives you authority. In large groups like this... there are those who take advantage of authoritarianism.

The development of the figure of the director in the twentieth century provides for a long dialogue! What happens with authority is that the directors were presumed to have authority and I don’t think so. You have to earn authority by doing your job well, you don’t necessarily stick to the role of director.

You told us that in a rehearsal it is the director's equation: preparation time - the work to be done - the depth level. Depending on the time of preparation of the concert, the work is treated as a cloak. From the most general to the most utilitarian.

The first thing a good director does is learn the score well and get close to the composer’s thinking. But in this approach there is the screen of each director. For this reason, the same work will sound different whether it is directed by me or directed by another. It doesn't mean better or worse. But music has that human nature. Music is made by humans. Dehumanizing music makes no sense. Art is made by human beings. I can't understand it any other way. That's why I don't divide the person and the artist. And what can I do to make the team understand all this? How can we help you? Because you see its detail, its tree. I want to see the forest. In addition to being a clear destination for this, I will have to consider how to convey my idea. Because it doesn’t have the same resources as a school band, an amateur band or a professional.

I have often wondered why music is always called “beautiful”. It’s not the same with a movie, it can be interesting, hard, unpleasant... why ask to be a “pretty” musician?

Something doesn’t necessarily have to be nice to influence you. Art nourishes and influences. And if not, the art goes unnoticed. There is an interesting book, The Art of Orchestral Conducting by Herman Schercher. It says that the conductor is like a glass prism. You give him a light; the score. It creates a reflection after passing through the prism. The director must have enough density to create an interesting reflection of light. A density grader, because some directors are so dense that they don’t let the light go and then I have the feeling that they don’t understand what their job is. But others have so little density that the light passes through them without any change. I think the example of the prism is wonderful to understand the work that a professional band does. I have a light, my tradition, my repertoire, the way things are done... I have to go through everything to give them a good job. In the absence of density our work will go unnoticed, it is of no use. The scores are just pieces of paper that burn with the matches. But if we are opaque enough not to let the light pass, we will not transmit anything, we would be completely prescient. The search for this balance is interesting.

You love to write, you have several articles on your website, almost all of them in Catalan.

Writing allows me to reflect on what I have done. I spend a lot of time on trips, airports, hotels, away from the locals... in a short time leading such different musical works, so many hours of rehearsals, I have so many different natures in front of me, so many different listeners, so different acoustics... they make me lose perspective of what I do and try to find it through writing.

And what feeds you to live at that pace and come to rehearsals every day with such an illusion and a smile?

I try to do my job better and if I am in front of a band or an orchestra, I try not to notice the fatigue, the worry, the aches... I think it's part of my job.

Self-demand is what feeds me on one side and on the other side my house, the environment, helps me to relativize all this. My family is very important to me; my wife, my children, my brothers, my parents, my father-in-law, my mother-in-law, my brother-in-law... They help me a lot. They are a base for me.

In fact, the locals often appear in your writings...

If one day I had to leave the world of music, I feel that I have a home and I know what I would have next to me... it’s not a matter of fear, but something that gives me confidence. This allows me to relativize the world of music. This year, it’s not being easy to combine personal life with work. I have kids and I need to do a lot of things. When I’m at home I isolate myself in it and sometimes the phone rings but I don’t take it. I organize everything exactly and fill it up thoroughly afterwards. But if I’m bathing kids, helping with school assignments, or giving dinner, there’s no phone in those moments! Since I'm not here every day, it's inevitable for me. I don't want to lose that. It feeds me and I’m very clear about that. Those moments are a treasure for me.

There is one person who has had a great influence on me, the musician Carlos Palacio and he said: “I have only one consciousness; and both man and composer merge in it.” Man and musician, I have both in me. And they can't dissociate.

If I don’t know who I am, who, how, to whom, what should I correct? I know people who have come a long way in the world of music and then who are very bad in their personal life... maybe you should leave something of your professional life if you value personal life... or not. One's own choice. I respect him. But you can't have it all.