At just 29 years of age, this young Spanish conductor is quickly gaining recognition for his passionate and in depth approach to music, having already conducted in Europe, America and Asia. Pablo Urbina has worked with
musicians such as Bernard Haitink, John Wilson, Vladimir Jurowski, Midori Goto, Juan Diego Florez, Cecilia Bartoli, Gianluca Marciano, Randy Newman, Pablo Mielgo, Martin André and John Williams to name a few, has conducted orchestras including the Malaga Philharmonic (Spain), National Youth Orchestra of Portugal, Savaria Symphony Orchestra (Hungary), Farnborough Symphony, ESF Orchestra (Hong Kong) and the Royal College of Music Film Orchestra (which he co-founded), and has worked in venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, LSO St. Luke’s and Walt Disney Hall. He is currently the Music director of the London City Orchestra, and maintains a busy diary working in projects ranging from recording sessions to
multimedia and cross-genre projects. Urbina is also very passionate about opera, having worked with Navarra Symphony Orchestra and Baluarte Opera Foundation (Spain), Harmonia Orchestra (in concert with members of the Vienna Philharmonic) and Chamber Opera of Navarra (Spain). With this last one he gave the world premiere in Spanish of Karl Jenkins´ “Eloise”. Urbina has participated in master classes and festivals including Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and Bartok International Seminar, with renowned conductors such as Christian Maceralu, Leonard Slatkin, Colin Metters, Wilson Hermanto and Howard Williams. Most recently he conducted at the first edition of the Suoni Da Golfo Festival in Lerici, Italy, with Orchestra Excellence. Pablo Urbina was born in Vitoria-Gasteiz in 1988, and grew up in Pamplona, where he began playing the French horn at the age of eight with his mentor Julian Cano. After receiving the San Diego Rotary Club Scholarship in 2005 to play associate Principal horn with the San Diego Youth Symphony, he went on to study horn and conducting at the Thornton School of Music of the University of Southern California (Los Angeles, US) with mentor Kristy
Morrell, James Thatcher, Michael Powers and Sharon Lavery, awarded the USC International Scholarship and Thornton Merit Award. Pablo graduated with summa cum laude, USC Order of Troy and Vince DeRosa Outstanding Hornist awards, also winning second prize at the Downey Symphony Concerto Competition in 2010. In 2014 Pablo finished a Master of Music at the Royal
College of Music London as a Jane Barker and Michael Quinn Scholar. His teachers at the RCM included Peter Stark, Timothy Jones, John Ryan, Susan Dent, Jeff Bryant, Nigel Black and Simon Rayner.
Urbina is very committed to music education and outreach, developing extensive research on the future of classical music through children, and working with organisations including RCM Sparks, Wigmore Hall Foundation, Redbridge Music Service and the BBC. He has also conducted research in the field of musician´s injuries and injury prevention and has given several
lectures on the topic. In 2012-2013 Pablo served as Students´ Association President at the Royal College of Music, and currently researches the music of Michael Kamen, helping his Estate to preserve this composer´s musical legacy. An advocate for charitable causes through music, he has helped organisations including including Sue Ryder, Cure Parkinson´s, Mr. Holland’s
Opus, Great Ormond Street and The Wellness Community.
As performer, he worked with ensembles including the Symphony Orchestra of Navarra (Spain), American Youth Symphony, Harmonia Orchestra (including a recent performance at the Vienna Staatsoper with members of the Vienna Philharmonic), YMF Debut Orchestra, Euskadi Youth Orchestra and the Texas Music Festival Orchestra, performing in Wigmore Hall, Purcell
Room, Dorothy Chandler Pavillion of Los Angeles and Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall to name a few. Urbina is also very keen for chamber music, and until very recently he was a member of The Cataleya Woodwind Quintet, 2013-2014 Park Lane Artists.