Biography
Job Title: Classical Lecturer
Courses Taught: BA (Hons) Classical
Specialisms: Double Bass
Previously Damián was Associate Principal double bass in the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra from 2012 until 2016, he was offered a place in the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2017 and he has been a member of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra between 2018 and 2023. Nowadays, he is Double Bass and Chamber Music Visiting Tutor at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Lecturer at Leeds Conservatoire.
Damián has enjoyed a successful freelance career which has given him the opportunity to play with great orchestras in London such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra and BBC Symphony Orchestra, and he has worked as a Section Leader and in other Principal positions with orchestras such as Royal Northern Sinfonia, BBC Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lille, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Halle Orchestra, Opera North, BBC NOW, Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Working with British and European orchestras has given Damián invaluable experience in his musical career as he has had the privilege to work with great conductors such as Simon Rattle Daniele Gatti, Lorin Mazel, Bernard Haitink, Kazuki Yamada, Antonio Pappano, Andris Nelsons, Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, Charles Dutoit, Valery Gergiev, Sir Colin Davis, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Kurt Masur, Semyon Bichkov, Essa-Pekka Salonen, Vladimir Jurowski and Yannick Nezet-Seguin.
Damián has been awarded several prizes in competitions: Honorary Mention in the Jeunesses Musicals Chamber Music competition “Ciutat de Vinaros”, 1st Prize in the Royal College of Music double bass competition, 1st prize in the Ravel-Granados piano competition and 1st prize in Concurso de Interpretación Musical “Ciudad de Santa Pola”, among others. He is very grateful to the support and scholarships received from the Leather’s Seller Company, Fundación Caja Madrid, Guildhall School of Music Trust and Joven Orquesta Nacional de España, which made possible his postgraduate studies in London.
Damián grew up in Alicante and studied at Conservatorio Superior de Música Óscar Esplá, where he finished undergraduate degrees in both piano and double bass. Afterwards he moved to Barcelona for a year, to train at the orchestral academy of “El Gran Teatro del Liceu” Here he studied double bass with professor Savio de la Corte, who encouraged him to continue his double bass studies abroad. Damián decided to move to London to study double bass and piano as a second instrument with the great double bass virtuoso Thomas Martin and the extraordinary pianist Caroline Palmer at the Guildhall School of Music. He continued his double bass education studying a Master’s degree with Thomas Martin at the Royal College of Music, where he finished with distinction.
He is extremely grateful for the amount of support and encouragement he received through his studies from all his mentors - Thomas Martin, Josep Henández, Pilar Sánchez, Jacobo Ponce, Caroline Palmer, Jesús María Gómez, Rafael Miró, Kevin Rundell and Matthew Gibson. They all gave him the inspiration and passion to love and appreciate the values of a career in music. During his studies he also had the opportunity to participate in masterclasses with great musicians like Rinat Ibramigov, F. Petrachi, Janne Saksala, Evgeni Kolosov, Joel Quarrington, Michael Bladerer, Petru Iuga, Alberto Boccini, Jiri Hudec, Martin Dobner, Pedro Gadelha, Lucian Ciarota, Cristoph Rahn, Colin Paris, Andryi Viytovych, Evgeni Grach, Tony Hougham, Stephen Williams, Francisco Catalá, Antonio García Araque, Javier Sapiña, Emilio Marabella, Jaime Robles, Károly Schranz, Ana Guijarro and Ángel Luis Quintana.
