Pilar Fontalba
“J’ai pu constater les grandes qualités instrumentales et la forte personnalité de cette interprète” (Pierre Boulez)
Pilar Fontalba is a Professor of Music and Performing Arts, specializing in Oboe, at the Conservatorio Superior de Navarra. She is a founding member of OWNSTAGE, a collective creating performances, president of the E7.2 Collective, established for interdisciplinary experimentation in Navarra, and vice president of the National Association of Contemporary Music Músicon. She is an oboist with Vertixe Sonora, Collectivo Impulsion (Paris), and Ensemble Ö! (Switzerland). She has been the Principal Oboe of the Navarra Symphony Orchestra since 2005. She has premiered over a hundred works, many of which were composed specifically for her.
She earned the title of Superior Professor of Oboe with the Honor Award for Completion of Studies at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid in 1998. She later studied with Thomas Indermühle at the Musikhochschule Zürich in Switzerland, where she obtained the Master of Arts in Music Performance Konzert and Specialized Music Performance Solist with the highest distinction (Auszeichnung). She earned the Concert Diploma with First Prize at the Ecole Nationale de Musique du Pays de Montbéliard (France) with Christian Schmitt and the Advanced Diploma at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Florence, Italy. In 2020, she obtained the Master in Musical Research (60 ECT) from UNIR.
On Heinz Holliger’s recommendation, she participated for several seasons as a guest at the Lucerne Festival Academy, working with Pierre Boulez, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, and composers in residence such as Harrison Birtwistle, Wolfgang Rihm, and Isabel Mundry.
In the 2003–2004 season, she was a member of the Basel Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, she has performed as a soloist with numerous opera and symphony orchestras in Belgium, France, Spain, Switzerland, and Germany.
In 2004, she was invited by Pierre Boulez to perform as a soloist in Chemin IV by Berio under his direction at the opening of the Agora Festival 2004, organized by IRCAM, Paris, in memory of Berio’s death.
As a soloist, she has performed at the Young Artist in Concert Festival in Davos, Switzerland; Festival Martinü in Basel; Audio-Art Festival in Krakow; Instrumento Solo in Buenos Aires; Encuentro de Oboístas Buenos Aires; Herrenhausen in Hanover; IDRS; Salzburg Biennale; Venice Biennale; Teatros del Canal; Luzern Festival; Davos; Tage für neue Musik – Zürich; Herrenhausen Festival – Hanover; Deutsche Radio – Berlin Philharmonic; CDMC – Museo Reina Sofía; Festival de Alicante; Contemporary Music Festival of Santiago de Chile; Santander International Festival; Gare du Nord – Basel; and many others.
She is the founder and soloist of Ensemble Laboratorium, was a member of Ensemble Phönix (Basel) for 15 years, and has performed with Ensemble Modern, Recherche (Freiburg), Ensemble Intercontemporain (Paris), Neopercusión (Madrid), Experimental Studio (Freiburg), Koan 2 (Madrid), and Placa Base (Mallorca).
From 2004 to 2020, she was Principal Oboe Professor at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de las Islas Baleares. She was academic director and assistant to Thomas Indermühle at the International Woodwind Music Course in Jávea (Alicante) from 2000 until its conclusion in 2023, and also created and directed the Oboe Festival in Palma de Mallorca.
She has taught numerous oboe and chamber music courses at the University of La Serena in Chile, has been a professor at Musikschule Pratteln in Switzerland, and has given lectures and masterclasses in Krakow, Warsaw, Chile, Buenos Aires, Seville, Jaén, Málaga, Mahón, and other locations. She has taught the wind section at the contemporary music meetings of the ACA Foundation in Mallorca and at JONDE for the Alicante Festival 2011. She has been a guest professor in the Electroacoustic Master’s programs at the Conservatorio A. Boito in Parma and Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan.
She has recorded Miroirs déformants by Nicolas Vérin for INA-GRM, Renaceres by Víctor Carbajo for oboe and strings, the Concierto del Alba by Manuel Angulo for oboe and orchestra with José Luis Temes and the Córdoba Orchestra for the Verso label. Her most recent recordings have been published by the Cezanne label, featuring works written and dedicated to her.
She has been awarded the Hegar Prize in Zürich for her interpretation of Kinêsis by Gérard Zinsstag, and received, unanimously, the Prix Supérieur Inter-regional of the Grand-Est region of France.
In 2024, she premiered iSlave by Alberto Bernal, Mar Gómez, and Pablo Ramos, a project awarded the BBVA Leonardo Grant.