Josep Lluís Galiana
saxophonist · improviser · writer · editor
Josep Lluís Galiana (València, Spain, 1961) has a Diploma in Advanced Studies (DEA) from the Polytechnic University of Valencia and a Higher Degree from the Valencia Conservatory of Music. A saxophonist, composer, writer, editor and Spanish cultural manager who stands out on the European scene of free improvisation, electroacoustic creation, avant-garde jazz and musicological research, he begins his artistic career in the 1980s, forming part of various contemporary instrumental ensembles, jazz collectives and popular music groups. His compositions have been premiered and performed at important international festivals in Portugal, France, Greece, Italy, Poland, Sweden, USA, China, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Cuba and Spain.
Throughout his long artistic career, he has founded instrumental groups with internationally renowned musicians such as Chaosophy, Deriva Ensemble, Bregues de Moixos, Errante Ensemble, Transitions, Quaramba!, Quartet de la Deriva, Mediterranean Electroacoustic Quartet, Col·lectiu d’Improvisació de Castelló (CIM.CS), Cosmos 21, Impromptu Ensemble, D’ArS Ensemble, Bòlit Jazz Grup i SET.UP.SO., among others, and has collaborated with l’Ensemble d’Improvisació del pianista Agustí Fernández, Josep Manuel Berenguer and l’Orquestra del Caos, Grup Instrumental de València, La Orquesta Mundana, Seidagasa, Wade Matthews, Avelino Saavedra, Ferran Besalduch, Carlos D. Perales, Thomas Bjelkeborn, Íñigo Ibaibarriaga, El Pricto, Josep-Maria Balanyà, Ruiz del Puerto, Mariangeles Sánchez Benimeli, Pere Vicalet, Paloma Carrasco, Ricardo Tejero, Chefa Alonso, Víctor Sequí, José López Montes, Gregorio Jiménez, Vicent Gómez Pons, Sisco Aparici, Mathias Müller, Bartolomé Ferrando, Joma Rius, Gonzalo Biffarella, Andreas Mniestris, Liba Villavecchia, Ramón López, David Herrington, Jorge Gavaldá, Chapi, Miguel Molina, Remigi Roca, Osvaldo Jorge, Guillermo Bazzola, Fernando Lamas, Diego Caicedo, Antonio Luis Guillén, Javier Carmona, Pablo M. Esparza, Ainara Zubizarreta, Vasco Trilla, Martín Meléndez, Joan Antoni Pich, Pep Mula, Sarah Claman, Luiz Rocha, Carlos Suárez, Jesús Gallardo, Lisa Ullén, Lise-Lotte Norelius, Parkour Sonoro, Rémi Habib, Richard Bonnet, Joan Gómez Alemany, Lucía Martínez, Adolf Murillo, Rosa Soler, Joan Soriano, Ramon Prats, Albert Cirera, Pierre Bastien, Mike Cooper, Josu de Solaun, Luz Prado, Àlex Reviriego, Ángel Faraldo, Carlos Galán, John Butcher, Matías Riquelme…
He is the author of LA LIBRE IMPROVISACIÓN MUSICAL. Fuente inagotable de inteligencia emocional (EdictOràlia, 2024), TIEMPO DE REVERBERACIÓN. Una aproximación histórica a la música experimental valenciana en el contexto internacional y otros escritos sobre música y política (EdictOràlia, 2022), the poems L’apòstrof de l’estima (EdictOràlia, 2026), HAIKUS D’ESTIU (EdictOràlia, 2021) and SONS COMPARTITS. Poemes, textos i pretextos (EdictOràlia, 2018); the essay IMPROVISACIÓN LIBRE. El gran juego de la deriva sonora (EdictOràlia, 2017) and compilations of writings like PIANOS Y PIANISTAS. Dos décadas de crítica musical y otros escritos pianísticos (EdictOràlia, 2020), EMOCIONES SONORAS. De la creación electroacústica, la improvisación libre, el arte sonoro y otras músicas experimentales (EdictOràlia, 2020) and ESCRITOS DESDE LA INTIMIDAD. Conversaciones, artículos de opinión, notas, reseñas y críticas musicales(EdictOràlia, 2016), as well as numerous articles, reviews, lectures and musicological studies published in books, specialized magazines and the written press. In 2016, it created the publishing seal EdictOràlia Llibres i Publicacions and the label Liquen Records, dedicated to improvised and experimental music.
In the field of teaching, he holds the Chair of Orchestra and Choir of the Higher Conservatory of Music of Castellón during the 2002-2003 academic year, where he founded the Big Band of that center. He has also been Professor of History and Aesthetics of Music at the Professional Conservatory of Music of Valencia (2002) and Aesthetic Education at the Professional Music Conservatory of Cullera (2004-2005), in addition to teaching numerous courses, workshops and seminars around improvisation, electroacoustics, sound art and other musicological, artistic and cultural issues in Argentina, Greece, Sweden and Spain. At the associative level, he founded and presides since 2014 the Laboratory for the Contemporary Creative Processes Research AD LAB and, between 2006 and 2014, he is secretary of the Electroacoustic Music Association of Spain (AMEE), member entity of the International Confederation of Electroacoustic Music (ICEM / Unesco).
With more than two hundred compositions in catalog and seventy recordings published, Josep Lluís Galiana has recorded or collaborated for Canal Clásico-RTVE-Vía Digital; RNE-Classical Radio (Ars Sonora), RTVV, RNE-Radio 3 (Atmosphere, Discópolis Jazz), Ràdio Catalunya, À Punt ràdio, Radio Klara, Undae Radio podcasts, Universos Paralelos, Jazz en el aire, Llum de Tunguska, Vericuetos-Radio Kras, Bad Music Jazz, and record labels Marmita-Música Viva, Artics Produccions, AMEE, Desamparats Productions, Sound In, PrimTON Berlin, Luscinia Records, Clamshell Records/Vector Sounds, Alina Records, Seidagasa, Cilestis, ZAWP Records, Discordian Records, Viajero Inmóvil Experimental, Gruppo Ungido, Room40 Records, República Ibérica Ruidista, Mute Sound Records and Liquen Records.
