Conductor

After a training as an environmental scientist, Txemi Etxerbarria from Spain changed his focus completely on music. He completed both a bachelor's degree in school music and horn in 2003 in Bilbao. From 2005 he continued his horn studies at the Maastricht Conservatory with Will Sanders and Willy Bessems, where he obtained both his bachelor's and master's degree. He attended masterclasses with Eric Terwilliger, Eric Penzel and Stefan Dohr, among others. He also played several times with the Limburg Symphony Orchestra.

In 2007, Txemi started his conducting training with Enrico Delamboye and Jan Stulen, also at the Maastricht Conservatory, and in 2013 he successfully completed his master's degree in orchestral conducting at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp with Ivo Venkov. He attended masterclasses in conducting with Edo de Waart, Jan Stulen and Roberto Montenegro.

In the following years  he conducted various professional and amateur symphony and wind orchestras at home and abroad. Since 2015, he has been chief conductor of three wind orchestra’s from the 1st division in the Netherlands: Sint Aemiliaan (Kerkrade), Gildenbondsharmonie (Boxtel) and TOG-Welten (Heerlen). In the field of contemporary music, he is involved in projects by, among others, Ensemble XXI from Antwerp. He is also chief conductor of the Ensemble Oihua from Rotterdam and of the CoMAMaastricht Ensemble since its foundation in 2013.

Txemi plays the horn in Wind Ensemble Zuiderwind and is active as a horn teacher. He has also written compositions for various ensembles.