MEMORIA DE LA ISLA VERDE for Clarinet and Wind Orchestra by JOSÉ MARÍA SANCHEZ-VERDÚ (Spain, 1968)
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[#359] June 08, 2026
Spain | 2026 | Solo clarinet and Wind Orchestra | Grade 6 | 17' | Solo Work
Premiered by Banda Municipal de Barcelona
conducted by José Rafael Pascual Vilaplana,
Manuel Martinez, Clarinet Soloist on Apr 27, 2026 in Barcelona, Spain.
Memorias de la Isla Verde by Spanish composer and conductor José María Sanchez-Verdú is our Composition of the Week.
Memorias de la Isla Verde was co-commissioned by clarinet soloist Manuel Martínez, and the Barcelona Band and was premiered on April 27, 2026, at the “Auditori de Barcelona”, with the Barcelona Municipal Band, conducted by José Rafael Pascual Vilaplana and Manuel Martínez as soloist.
“Memoria de la Isla Verde” marks Sánchez-Verdú’s first compositional venture into the world of symphonic band. In the composer’s own words, “this piece is a journey and a ritual for solo clarinet and wind orchestra. The green island is an essential figure in the world of Sufism. It is located in a mythical space, and on the peaks of its great Mount Käf —the white mountain— dwells King Simorgh, the kingbird toward which thousands of birds set out on a long and difficult pilgrimage. Simorgh means in Persian ‘thirty birds’ […], the thirty birds that arrive at this space of the green island, and before Simorgh discover that the journey was an inner journey. The solo clarinet symbolizes this bird and its Homeric journey, accompanied by the spiritual and sensitive textures of the band’s palette of colors. Furthermore, the composer’s hometown, Algeciras (in Arabic aljazira), means ‘the green island’. Thus, there is a kind of vital and creative testimony in these fascinating musical staves.” Program note from recording booklet.
The music has a duration of about 17 minutes, and it is scored for solo clarinet and symphonic band:
Solo B-flat Clarinet
Piccolo; 2 Flutes; 2 Oboes; English Horn; 2 Bassoons; Contrabassoon; E-flat Clarinet; B-flat Clarinet 1-3; Bass Clarinet in B-flat; Contrabass Clarinet in B-flat; Soprano Saxophone; 2 Alto Saxophones; 2 Tenor Saxophones; Baritone Saxophone
Brass
4 Horns in F (with CD mutes); 4 Trumpets in C (with Harmon mutes / CD mutes); 4 Trombones (with CD mutes); 2 Euphoniums; 2 Bass Tubas in F; Double Basses
Percussion
Timpani (Superball mallet, chopsticks, 1 tambourine placed on the drumhead from measure 331 onward)
Percussion I (Bass Drum, 2 Congas, Flexatone (played with a bow)
Percussion II (Styrofoam block (played with a bow), 2 Tumbadoras (large conga drum), 3 Gongs (C – E-flat – B), Flexatone (played with a bow), 3 Crotales (A'' – B'' – C''')
Percussion III; Tam-tam (low), 5 Woodblocks, 2 Tom-toms, 2 Tumbadoras (may be shared with Percussion II)
Percussion IV, Bass Drum (with a chain of metal balls placed on the drumhead), Triangle.
The music has been released by “L’Auditori” from Barcelona.
José María Sánchez-Verdú is one of the most prominent Spanish composers of his generation. He was born in 1968 in Andalucía, Spain, and lives in Berlin and Madrid. He studied composition, musicology, and orchestral conducting at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música in Madrid and at the Musikhochschule Frankfurt with Hans Zender. He also studied conducting with G. Asensio, W. Tajski, and Arturo Tamayo, and composition with Franco Donatoni at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. In addition to his musical studies, he earned a law degree from Universidad Complutense Madrid and completed an international PhD at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
His music has been performed by many internationally recognized ensembles and orchestras, including Ensemble Modern, MusikFabrik, Ensemble Recherche, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, SWR-Sinfonieorchester, Finnish Radio Orchestra, Orquesta Nacional de España, and many others. His works have appeared at major festivals such as Ultraschall Berlin, Wien Modern, Salzburg Biennale, Donaueschingen Ars Nova, and the Venice Biennale.
Sánchez-Verdú has collaborated with conductors including Zubin Mehta, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Jesús López Cobos, Vladimir Jurowski, and Peter Rundel. His music-theatre productions — including “ATLAS”, “GRAMMA”, “AURA”, “El viaje a Simorgh”, “Libro de las estancias”, “Alegorías de la luz”, and “ARGO” — have been staged at venues such as the Staatsoper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Real Madrid, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and the Münchener Biennale.
He has received numerous international distinctions, including the Kompositionspreis der Jungen Deutschen Philharmonie (1999), the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation Prize (2000), Spain’s Premio Nacional de Música (2003), the Villa Concordia Award for Artistic Excellence (2014–2015), the Ibn Arabi Prize (2015), and the Premio de Honor de la Semana de Música Religiosa de Cuenca (2017).
He has also served as composer-in-residence at several festivals and institutions, including Bayreuth, Carinthischer Sommer, the Dresdner Philharmonie, and the Asian Composer League in Korea. As a conductor, he has worked throughout Europe and Latin America.
As an educator, Sánchez-Verdú has taught composition and counterpoint at institutions including the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf, Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden, Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón, and the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid, where he has been professor of composition since 2019. In 2022, he was named Honorary Professor of Composition at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf.
His recordings have been released on labels such as Kairos, Col Legno, Harmonia Mundi, and Columna Música, and his scores are published by Breitkopf & Härtel.
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