Tomás Jerez Munera is a musician from Albacete (community of Castilla-La Mancha, 200 km south of Madrid). He was a winner of the honorary award of the Higher Music Conservatory of Madrid, as well as the first prize of the IV International Saxophonist Competition “Villa de Benidorm” (2002).
He participated in international festivals, in particular, in Spain, Poland, Portugal, France, Canada, USA. He collaborates with the Community of Madrid Orchestra, the Andrés Segovia Chamber Orchestra and the RTVE Symphony Orchestra.
From 2007 he has been a professor of saxophone at the Higher Musical Center of the Basque Country – MUSIKENE. Since 2018 he also has been a professor of saxophone at the High Conservatory of Music of Castilla-La Mancha.
This year, Tomás is invited for the first time as a member of the jury of the Andorra SaxFest-2022. He shared with us his impressions of the festival, as well as his ideas about the role of music and, in particular, a saxophone, in the formation of positive emotions:
«It is the first time when I participate in Andorra Sax Fest and I am very happy to be a member of the jury of the solo sax contest. I would like to say that the level of all participants is very high. It is remarkable, indeed! We are talking about musicians between 16 and 26 years old. Russian Dmitry Pinchuk is the youngest participant.
As for the criteria for evaluating musicians, we pay attention not only to technique (all musicians are very strong). It is important that musicians know how to let the music touch a soul. In other words, music is a kind of balance between good technique, very good preparation and perfect presentation, as well as the ability to transform emotions and improvise.
I have a lot of performances, I see different people, and here’s what I can say: when the public comes to a concert, they want to enjoy. The secret is simple: if a musician himself enjoys his performance, then his audience will definitely enjoy it.
I consider myself a classical saxophonist. I love playing classical music, originally written for saxophone or well adapted. But I also like jazz, flamenco, pop, rock… Actually I like different styles.
People sometimes ask me why I like a saxophone. For me, a saxophone is a chameleonic instrument. It’s able to transform! Yesterday, for example, Vincent David played here in Andorra in a new style: a bit of jazz, a bit of rock… It was absolutely avant-garde music. And all this thanks to the same musical instrument: a saxophone.
Saxophone music is very lively and varied.
I think this year will be special for us. After the lifting of restrictions associated with the pandemic, a special energy is felt in cultural life. Everyone wants to go out and have fun. We all learned a very big lesson and now we know what it means to live without emotions. Our life is unpredictable, so we must be able to enjoy every moment. And music helps us in it».
Irina Rybalchenko
