Madrid, March 12, 2026. – Her Majesty Queen Sofía, Honorary President of the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía, presided over the annual meeting of the School’s Board of Trustees, the main representative body of this center for advanced musical training.
At the meeting, the President of the School, Paloma O’Shea, expressed her gratitude for the presence of Her Majesty Queen Sofía, and began by recalling that “this year our institution celebrates 35 years since its creation, an occasion to look back and recognize the path we have traveled. The School was defined by certain principles that remain valid today: admission exclusively by merit, the close relationship between master and disciple, the importance of chamber music, and the presence of the finest international professors“. In this regard, she highlighted the support received from the beginning by Doña Sofía and great figures in music, such as Mstislav Rostropovich and Zubin Mehta, who contributed to selecting some of the first masters.
The President also emphasized the international recognition that the center has achieved over these three decades. “I was always impressed by the model of the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, a medium-sized school with great international impact. That is why I was filled with pride when the president of the Royal Academy of Music referred to our School as ‘the European Curtis‘; I am also grateful for and celebrate having Andrés Orozco-Estrada as principal conductor of our symphony orchestra, with which we have traveled triumphantly on the international circuit, first in Bratislava, Budapest, and Vienna, and later in New York“.
Paloma O’Shea noted that the institution is currently experiencing a period of stability that allows for the preparation of new stages of growth, including the future renovation of the building adjacent to the current headquarters, a project that will expand academic and artistic activities, and she wished to emphasize that “following the transfer by INAEM of this building of great importance to the School, the Madrid City Council is currently helping us greatly in managing the permits for the adaptation of the new building“.
The President of the Escuela Reina Sofía, proud of the support and consistency demonstrated by patrons in their contributions, praised their extensive involvement in the School’s activities, which continues to grow, and on an artistic level, she highlighted the most significant achievement of the School’s students: “We continue to organize more than 300 concerts, all of them free or at a symbolic price, but the most outstanding event of recent months has undoubtedly been the concert by the School’s Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York last November, where, once again, we had the privilege of being presided over by Doña Sofía. It was a great success musically, and also institutionally, with the establishment of relationships with New York musical institutions, such as the Juilliard School, the New York Philharmonic, and Carnegie Hall itself“.
On a more academic level, Paloma O’Shea emphasized that “at the School the Chair of Arab Studies has successfully launched, in collaboration with Qatar Foundation; the employability day for young musicians “EmpleArte” that we organized in collaboration with two production units of INAEM has also been very successful: the JONDE and the Auditorio Nacional; and our current and former students have secured solo positions in two of the finest European orchestras, the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and continue to win important awards, such as the Second Prize and Audience Prize awarded to Hiroki Kasai at the Tokyo International Viola Competition”.
She also wished to mention the summer festival that the Escuela Reina Sofía has been promoting in Cantabria for twenty-five years, the Santander Music and Academy Encounter, where this coming summer “The Encounter orchestra will remain in Santander for two additional weeks to occupy the pit of the Argenta Hall at the Palacio de Festivales de Cantabria for an opera production: “The Magic Flute” by Mozart in the fantastic production by the Mozarteum Salzburg, with musical direction by David Afkham and stage direction by Rolando Villazón. It will be the final performance of the 2026 Encounter and, at the same time, the opening of the Santander International Festival”.
Subsequently, the General Director of the Escuela Reina Sofía, Julia Sánchez, updated those present on the status of the expansion and adaptation of the new building on Calle Requena, adjacent to the current headquarters, which represents a great challenge for this institution to continue expanding its educational and cultural offerings as a world-class center for training young musical talents.
The members of the Board of Trustees also had the opportunity to learn firsthand about the School’s educational model and its impact on students through a conversation between the dean and two students, as well as other recent initiatives such as the incubator, whose objective is to promote entrepreneurial projects created by the School’s alumni, and the project developed in partnership with DaLaNota, a free and inclusive music-social education program aimed at children and adolescents.
