Concha Ballester Pons was born in Dénia the 14 of November of 1960, in the maternity clinic that years later would become conservatory of music and in which it would work like professor of guitar.
Currently, Concha Ballester compiles the classes in the conservatory with which she teaches in the Sacred Heart School, Where he has been working for several years on the extracurricular activities of guitar and children's choir. In addition, he directs the prestigious festival of classical music International Music Week, Organized by the Conservatory of Tenor Cortis Music and the Department of Culture, and is also responsible for developing the annual cultural program of the Real Club Nautico Denia.
Concha Ballester began to take an interest in music from a very young age: "Since I have use of reason the music has been with us at home. My paternal grandfather was a great fan of music and my mother had some violinist, although my parents were not related to music, perhaps because they had no opportunity to develop in that field ... ". "My older brother, Vincent, started to study music before me, and then we continued together." Vicent and Concha began their musical studies with Joaquín Bosca. "I lived in Morocco and fortunately moved to Denia, and thanks to him I believe that the music began to take root here, aside from the Band of Music, because when Pepe Sendra came the band multiplied in students," says Concha Ballester. "I started with the piano, but I identified more with the guitar, for me it's more personal." Later they would enroll in the Conservatory of Alicante, where both brothers successfully completed the superior studies of music.
In 1983, recently graduated, Concha Ballester joins the team of the Tenor Cortis Conservatory of Music in Dénia, just created under the direction of the violinist Agustín Moreno. "At the Conservatory I went through all the positions, secretary, head of studies, director, but after many years came a time when I preferred to spend more time teaching classes and being able to catch more students."
Looking back, Concha Ballester describes the career of the Dénia Conservatory as positive: "We started in some garages in the Municipal House of Culture, In a classroom of 4 or 5 m2 in which a child, a guitar and I fit ". If you compare how we were before and how we are now, we are like kings, but the truth is that today the Conservatory does not meet the right conditions. We also have to thank the City Council for what it has done so that we can be in the current building, but Denia needs a real conservatory, I think we should not miss the train because it has been lost many times. It's always been about the point, but we've never gotten it ... "
When referring to this subject, Concha Ballester is appalled and confesses that "there comes a time that you ignore what they say because so many years they say yes ... but in the end it is not." I would like, he continues, that we finally have a new conservatory, where children can teach calmly, in good conditions, that there is an elevator ... The collective of parents, teachers, students are ready to do whatever it takes, if they need our support , They know they have it, but I do not know what to do or where to go, I do not know what's wrong ... experts will say. "
In her long teaching career, Concha Ballester has had the opportunity to train children and young people of all ages and claims to enjoy at different levels. "I like to teach the little ones because you start them and you see how they are advancing, and the older ones because they are more mature and musically more formed, it seems that they already want to dedicate themselves to this ...". Concerning the love of music in children and young people, Concha Ballester notes that "that does not change over time, the child who likes music, likes it, is now or does 15 years." "The difference I notice - he adds - is that parents want children to know more and more, they have many activities and I do not know how good that is. There are children who go to computers, to English, to ballet, to karate, to soccer, to the conservatory. I see that children can not do everything and I suffer with them. They finish the school day, they have training, then they come to class ... and they're dead. "
Because of her professional and personal experience, Concha Ballester indicates that young people who study music tend to consider their professional future when they start high school. From there the teaching load is important and the majority then arises if he chooses the musical career or prefers to focus on other university studies. Regarding the professional career of the music career, Concha Ballester says that there are many different fields: "they can dedicate themselves to teaching, being concertgoers, specializing in musicology, music therapy ... in the upper career there are several open fields."
Concha Ballester has been the artistic director of the International Setmana Music Festival for eleven years. At first, this festival was linked to the celebration of an international music course, which according to Concha Ballester explains "the best string teachers and great artists from all over the world came, it was a formidable team, but it stopped being done because economically it was very expensive". Among the professionals who participated in this course, Concha Ballester remembers "Agustín Leonara, José Luis García Asensio, Manuel Barrueco, who is an extraordinary guitarist, José Tomás, Miguel Zanetti, pianist of the best singers in the world ... I would say a lot of artists ... Alfredo Graus, Monserrat Caballé, Victoria de los Angeles, who is a great soprano. The last course he did in his life was in Dénia and the last concert too ".
Being in charge of the artistic direction of this important festival has given him the opportunity to meet great musicians and performers. "It is very satisfying to be able to meet these professionals and you realize that they are not proud, they are not divos, they are very good musicians and very good people. I think there are few good musicians who are cocky, I at least have not met any. "
Concha Ballester is a great fan of 16th-century music. "It's a music that I love, because it transports you to that time. I have a vihuela, a characteristic instrument of that time, and whenever I can, I try to study its technique, its resources and put into practice the advice of the great teacher Hopkinson Smith. "
Concha Ballester dedicates a good part of the little free time left by her profession, to organize the Cultural Cycle of the Real Club Nautico Dénia. She confesses to enjoy this work, "I got involved several years ago and we have been expanding the summer program and preparing cultural activities throughout the winter (exhibitions, concerts, conferences ...). "All activities," he says, "are organized in the Nautical, but are open to all, the barrier is only to regulate the traffic, not to prevent the passage of people."
We conclude this interview by asking Concha Ballester for her wishes and wishes. "I'm happy with what I do, personally the only thing I miss is to have time for myself, to play, to enjoy my time and also to dedicate to my family, because there are things that I can not share with them and I expect some Day to do it ". And on a professional level he adds: "I also want to give maximum support to the teaching of the conservatory, the music festivals ... and that the cultural environment that is now in Denia, continue."
* Interview extracted from the Culture-Llunàtics Magazine
