"I am abstemious and don't drink coffee, so I'm not much of a bar person," warns the musician, composer, and principal conductor of the Orquestra Simfònica Julià Carbonell de les Terres de Lleida, Xavier Pagès-Corella. Leaning against the bar in mid-morning, he orders a peach juice and, as much as possible, asks for background silence.
With a resoundingly Renaissance character, his mind harbors a multitude of very diverse concerns, uniting the artistic and the technical. This has led him to train in music and, at the same time, in engineering. "Combining these two facets allows me to create a mental framework in which I set coordinates within which I move freely. My Cartesian side knows where I'm going, but the journey is totally free." Music flows unrestrained, within a methodical and planning soul.
From a working-class family ---"they instilled in me the work ethic and always gave me all their support"--- and with an obsessive and perfectionist character, Xavier started his career at 27, about five years later than normal. "Of course, I had previously graduated in engineering, presenting an electronic piano tuner as my final project, and then I graduated in piano, composition, and orchestra conducting." The latter he did obtaining an Honorable Mention.
Five years seem few, but at that age, they represented a significant gap that he overcame through effort and tenacity. "My first job was conducting the Jove Orquestra de Figueres, and there I cut my teeth." It was a first step of many, in this long-distance race that has meant constant learning. He has continued to train with some of the best (Reinhard Schwarz, Georg Mark, Ovidiu Balan, Robert Gutter...) and his broad musical perspective has led him to conduct various ensembles, from the Barcelona Modern Ensemble to the Cobla de Sant Jordi. Classical, contemporary, and popular, which is also reflected in the great variety of compositions of various genres, both vocal and instrumental, that he has written for various ensembles and with which he has accumulated an endless list of awards and honors, from the Centelles to the Andrés Gaos. A long journey that has been preparing him for the best. Which, as always, arrived when he no longer expected it.
A gift from life
When he was about 40 years old, Xavier Pagès-Corella joined the Conservatori Superior del Liceu as a tenured professor. There, thanks to his eclectic spirit, he teaches a wide variety of subjects: "Composition, chamber music, orchestra conducting, contemporary music, cobla…". And that seemed to be all. He lived with the woman of his life, Elisenda, also an engineer, and their two twin sons were destined to be mathematicians. They shared their home in Sant Pere de Ribes, where he spent long hours studying and working in sweet solitude and earned a good living conducting ensembles, teaching, and composing.
But in that bucolic context, something was missing, a dream that seemed like it would never come true, until ---one could say in extra time--- it did. In January 2025, he won the competition for the position of artistic and principal conductor of the Orquestra Julià Carbonell de les Terres de Lleida. "I thought I wouldn't achieve it anymore, so, for me, the principal conductorship of one of the best symphony orchestras in the country is a gift that life has given me, and my main vital challenge, right now, is to take it as high as possible."
This activity is complemented by another challenge, "that of writing a book that I have been reflecting on for ten years and that I am now beginning to structure." A text of a divulgative tone through which to answer big questions about music, art, and life, "based on the experience I have accumulated over these years."
The inaccessible city of a thousand opportunities
Barcelona has been integrated into his life in stages. "It was the city where I came to take my piano exams as a child, then it became the city where I came to train in music and engineering. Later, it became the city where I come to do a lot of important things: concerts, classes… Although I like this long-distance relationship, because I am more of a hermit, and I have a great time in my studio in Sant Pere de Ribes."
In this sense, for him, Barcelona is the place where he comes to express everything he has been cooking in the solitude of his home, "a city of infinite opportunities to experience things and expand those you already have within, although ---he laments, after finishing his peach juice--- the collapse, the traffic jams, the streets full of people, the transports that don't work… everything that makes it difficult to come here is horrible."
--- Even if you're not into bars, and since you're already here, maybe you'd like to eat something, it's time.
Midday advances, and the bar's clientele livens up. Xavier Pagès-Corella looks around. The hustle and bustle of plates and cutlery, the aromas escaping from the kitchen, appetites about to be satisfied. He smiles.
--- I have a weakness for homemade menus ---he states---, so let's see what you have today.