Biography

Born in Palma de Mallorca in 1977 into a musical family, Gabriel Estarellas Pascual is considered one of the most versatile Spanish musicians of his generation. A violinist, conductor and educator, he moved to Madrid at an early age with his parents, where he began his musical studies. During his career he has given a large number of performances as a soloist with orchestras, guest concertmaster, recitals and chamber music concerts with different formations throughout Europe and the United States. In 2002 he moved to Switzerland to continue his studies and it was in 2004 when he founded the string quartet "García Abril Quartett", currently called "Estarellas Quartett", of which to date he has held the position of first fiddle. The quartet, after winning the important Swiss international competitions: "ORPHEUS Swiss Chamber Music Competition" and "Kammermusikwettbewerb des Migros-Kulturprozent" in 2007, began a great activity of concerts throughout Europe, being considered as one of the Spanish- prominent Swiss.

His role as conductor is also very important. Gabriel Estarellas Pascual has conducted renowned orchestral ensembles such as the Rousse Philharmonic Orchestra (Bulgaria), Akademisches Sinfonieorchester Sofia (Bulgaria), Camerata "Antonio Soler" (Spain), Polish Philharmonic Symphony Baltic (Poland), Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen (Switzerland), among others. Since 2008 he has been Principal and Artistic Director of the Jugendorchester Thurgau, one of the most important youth orchestras in Switzerland, and in 2014 he is also appointed Principal and Artistic Director of the Orchesterverein Zürich. His repertoire covers all eras and styles, ranging from baroque to the present day, symphonic and operatic music. Due to his outstanding pedagogical and artistic activity together with the Jugendorchesters Thurgau, Gabriel Estarellas Pascual was awarded in 2013 with the "Culture Award" of Thurgau and in 2016 he was awarded the "Culture Award" of the city of Amriswil.

Throughout his musical career he has been invited to numerous international festivals and concert cycles, including: "Trecastagni International Music Festival" in Sicily, "Festival der ORPHEUS-Konzerte" in Zürich, "IV Festival International de Guitare de Paris", " International Music Festival of Malaga", “Konzertreihe Appenzeller Winter”, “Konzerte des Schloss Rapperswil”, “Les amis du conservatoire de Neuchatel”, “Kultur in der Klosterkirche Paradies”, “Wintethurer Museumkonzerte”, “Theate- und Konzerte-Gesellschaft Mittelthurgau”, ”Musiksommer am Zürichsee”, “Abendmusik Bergün”, “Santander International Festival”, Estonian “Kuressaare Chamber Music Days”, “Villa Boveri Konzerte”, “Konzerte Kloster Fischingen”, “Amriswiler Konzerte” ,”Villa Mettlen Konzerte”, “International Bodensefestival”, “CNDM Cycle” of Madrid, “Oviedo Music Festival”, “Kartause Ittingen Konzerte”, “Segovia International Music Festival”, “León Spanish Music Festival”, “Texas Music Festival of Houston”, “Akkordeontage Thurgau”, “International Festival of Young Orchestras of Alicante”, “Neubrandenburg Young Concerts Festival”, etc. In turn, performing in prestigious venues such as: the National Auditorium of Spain (Madrid), Auditorium 400 of the Reina Sofía Center in Madrid, Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando (Madrid), "Salle Cortot" in Paris, Tonhalle St. Gallen, ADDA of Alicante, Konzertkirche Neubrandenburg, etc. As a conductor and chamber musician, he has shared the stage with important musicians, such as: Isabel Rey, Kurt Meier, Chiara Enderle Samatanga, Gianluca Campo, Ilker Arcayürek, Seth Quistad, Michael Reid, Thomas Grossenbacher, Marco Rodrigues, Arta Arnicane, Marc André Fournel, Alina Bercu, Dmitry Mishelovich, Mauricio Díaz, Srdjan Vukasinovic, Ignazio Pisana, etc.

Always very interested in Spanish music and in the diffusion of newly created works, he has made the world premieres of composers such as: R. Coinel, R. Maldonado, M. Porten, J. Hagen, J. P. Heinzer, Zulema de la Cruz , C. Cruz de Castro, Daniel Fueter, P. X. Abril Tirado, Robert Elkjer, etc. He is a great connoisseur of the chamber music work of maestro Antón García Abril, being in charge of the absolute premieres of the following works; ““ ,“Chamber Music for violin and pianoQuartet for the New Millennium”, the quartet “The mysterious shape of time”, the quintet with piano “Alba de los caminos”, the quintet with voice “Rubaiyat” and its song cycles for voice and quartet “Songs of night and stars” and “Songs of the secret garden”.

Their concerts have been broadcast and recorded live by important European radio and television stations such as DRS2, Espace 2, RNE, etc., with works by J. Haydn, C. Debussy, F. Martin, A. Dvorak, among others. He has also made record productions: 3 CDs with the Jugendorchester Thurgau with the following works: Symphony No. 7 by L. v. Beethoven, Concerto for piano and orchestra by E. Grieg, Symphony No. 9 “The New World” by A. Dvorak, “Ballade” by Swiss composer Daniel Fueter for accordion and string orchestra and “An English Suite” by Hubert Parry. Together with the Estarellas Quartett, a CD for the "SELLO AUTOR" with works by Antón García Abril that contains the piano quintet "Alba de los Caminos" and "Quartet for the new millennium", a CD that was very well received by critics, qualified by the specialized magazine RITMO as "Magnificent interpretations by the Estarellas Quartet" and receiving the highest score, he was also nominated in 2008 for the "Music Awards" in Spain.

Gabriel Estarellas Pascual studied music at the "Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid" and at the "Zürcher Hochschule der Künste" (Switzerland) with teachers Victor Martín, Rudolf Koelman and the Carmina Quartett (Susanne Frank, Matthias Enderle and Stephan Goerner ), addressing the Superior Title of Violin and the Master of Chamber Music specializing in string quartet. During his study period he has received scholarships from important institutions, including: the "Zürcher Hochschule der Künste", "Música en Compostela", the University of Houston (USA) and the Bruno Schuler-Stiftung (Switzerland) and in turn He is invited to take improvement courses in violin and chamber music with teachers Nobu Wakabayashi, Emile Cantor, Andrzej Grabiec, Nora Chastain, Thomas Demenga, Lucie Robert, among others. After his instrumental apprenticeship, Gabriel Estarellas Pascual began his postgraduate studies specializing in orchestra conducting at the "Zürcher Hochschule der Künste" under the tutelage of Professor Iwan Wassilevski, obtaining the "Orchestral Conducting Diploma" with "Honors". ”, and is regularly invited to international conducting courses by teachers, Prof. Jorma Panula, Atso Almila, etc.

He currently resides in Switzerland and shares his concert activity as a violinist and conductor with pedagogy, being a violin, viola, chamber music and orchestra teacher in the most important centers in the canton of Thurgau and is regularly invited as a teacher in courses on international improvement.

Gabriel Estarellas Pascual plays a period violin by the Italian luthier “Joannes Franciscus Pressenda”, built in 1843 in Turin.