Asier Puga
Principal conductor and artistic director
Asier Puga, principal conductor and artistic director of the Grupo Enigma, trained as an orchestral conductor with masters such as Peter Stark, Robin O'Neill, and Howard Williams at the Royal College of Music in London, graduating with highest honors (Distinction). He previously studied with Arturo Tamayo, Manel Valdivieso, and Enrique García Asensio at the Higher School of Music of the Basque Country (MUSIKENE). He furthered his studies by attending masterclasses with conductors such as Pierre Boulez (Lucerne Festival Academy), Diego Masson (London Sinfonietta Academy), and Martin André (RCM), among others.
Professionally, his concerts with the Castilla y León Symphony Orchestra, the Basque National Orchestra, the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble l'Itinéraire (Paris), Ensemble Ascolta (Germany), the Covent Garden Chamber Orchestra, Taller Sonoro, Explore Ensemble, the Burgos Symphony Orchestra, and the RCM Philharmonic Orchestra, among others, are particularly noteworthy. He has performed at major Spanish festivals and concert halls, including the Zaragoza Auditorium, L'Auditori de Barcelona, Palau de la Música de Valencia, Auditorio 400 - Reina Sofía, Teatros del Canal (Madrid), Auditorio Kursaal, Quincena Musical de San Sebastián, Palacio Euskalduna, Espacio Turina, Fundación Juan March, Kings Place (London), Britten Theatre, and the Guggenheim Museum, among others.
Interested in symphonic music, vocal and operatic repertoire, as well as new contemporary forms of expression, Asier Puga has worked with relevant artists such as the choreographer, dancer and artist La Ribot (with whom he has co-directed the show “Juana Ficción”), the actor Juan Loriente, the singer and multidisciplinary artist Niño de Elche, the trio of jazz drummer Gonzalo del Val, the filmmaker María Ruido, the composer and sound artist Llorenç Barber, the performer Carlos Llavata or the dancer and researcher Fernando López.
In 2014, he made his operatic conducting debut with Haydn's Armida, and in 2015 he conducted the world premiere of Singularity, the third opera by English composer Michael Oliva. Asier has studied vocal co-performance with pianist Maciej Pikulski. His growing interest in the vocal world and theater has led him to work with numerous singers, including Carlos Mena, Astrid Nordstad, Alejandro del Cerro, Helena Orcoyen, Maria Ostroukhova, Anna Harvey, and Maciej Nerkowsky, among others. A highlight was his collaboration with English baritone and stage director Simon Butteriss on his semi-staged production of Gustav Mahler's Lieder Eines fahrenden Gesellen and Arnold Schoenberg's Brettl-Lieder at the Britten Theatre in London. Asier has also been assistant director to Michael Rosewell in productions of Britten's Albert Herring (Liam Steel, stage director) or Strauss's Die Fledermaus (John Copley, stage director).
Asier Puga served as assistant conductor to Robert Treviño and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra (Sweden) during the 2019 Beethoven Festival, where all of Beethoven's symphonies were performed and recorded. He also served as assistant music director for the fourth production of the Oviedo Opera's 2019-20 season, with Will Humburg as music director and Guy Joosten as stage director, featuring Leoncavallo's Pagliacci and Zemlinsky's A Florentine Tragedy .
In 2016, Asier was one of three conductors selected to participate in the prestigious London Sinfonietta Academy, where he received masterclasses from French conductor Diego Masson, as well as from members of the London Sinfonietta.
Asier Puga has taken composition courses with Ramon Lazkano and Gabriel Erkoreka, attending masterclasses with Steve Reich, Felix Ibarrondo, Johannes Maria Staud, Elena Mendoza and Jesus Torres.
Due to his keen interest in contemporary music, Asier has conducted around 70 world premieres in both Spain and England, and has worked with composers such as Chaya Czernowin, Nuria Núñez, José Manuel López López, Núria Giménez-Comas, Iñaki Estrada, Javier T. Maldonado, Lisa Illean, and Cheryl Frances-Hoad, among many others. Asier regularly writes about contemporary music and art for various publications and online magazines, notably the blog he maintains at the Auditori de Barcelona.