After working as assistant conductor with the Philharmonie Zuidnederland (the Netherlands) and Le Concert Olympique (Belgium) with respectively the maestros Kees Bakels and Jan Caeyers, Txemi was selected in 2017 to conduct the opening concert at the World Music Competition (WMC) in Kerkrade with the Philharmonie Zuidnederland. Orchestras such as the WDR Sinfonieorchester from Cologne and the Rotterdam Philharmonic had participated in previous years. On this occasion, Txemi had the opportunity to conduct a wind band composed of more than a hundred musicians coming from the best wind bands of the Netherlands.

In 2016, Txemi reached the finals of the Black Sea Opera Competition (Rumania) and was also selected to direct the closing concert of the “Maestro” course under the supervision of the maestro Jan Cober. In 2019 he won 3rd prize at the international conducting competition “Citta’ Di Brescia Giancarlo Facchinetti Per Direttori D’Orchestra” (Italy) and in 2020 the 1st prize at the IV Orchestral Conducting Competition in Bilbao (Spain). Thanks to this prize he was invited to conduct the Banda Municipal de Bilbao in the season 2020-2021.

In 2015 he won the auditions to conduct two years the Zomer Orkest Nederlands (ZON) with which he made two tours through the whole country and in 2020 he was chosen to tour in France and Austria with the Dutch orchestra AdHoc Vakantieorkest in 2021 and 2022.

Etxebarria has worked with orchestras such as the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz (Germany), the Young Symphony Orchestra of Limburg (the Netherlands), Conservatory Orchestras of Maastricht and Antwerp and the Symphony Orchestra of the National Opera & Ballet Oleg Danovsky (Rumania). In Spain he has conducted in auditoriums such as the Kursaal in San Sebastián and the Baluarte in Pamplona. As an assistant conductor he regularly collaborates with the University Orchestra of Maastricht, Kerkraads Symfonieorkest and Arka Symfonieorkest.

In the operatic world he has worked with singers such as the soprano Kelly God (Staatoper Hannover), the tenors Francois Soons (Dutch National Opera) and Antonio Rivera (Staatorchester Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz) and the freelancer Janine Kitzen. During four years he was the chief conductor of the Opéra Comique Maastricht obtaining great critical and public success.

In the world of contemporary music he has been involved in projects with groups such as Ensemble XXI (Antwerp) and currently holds the position of chief conductor of the Ensemble Oihua (Rotterdam) and the CoMA Maastricht (Contemporary music for all) ensemble. He has premiered works by composers such as: Wim Henderickx, Michael Finnissy, Jesse Passenier, Rick van Veldhuizen and Saskia Venegas.

For nine years he has been assistant conductor of the wind ensemble St. Petrus & Paulus Wolder (Maastricht) with which he won the world title in the highest category at the World Music Competition (WMC Kerkrade) in 2017.

Since 2015 he is the chief conductor of three wind ensembles that compete in the 1st division in the Netherlands: Sint Aemiliaan (Kerkrade), Gildenbodsharmonie (Boxtel) and TOG-Welten (Heerlen).

Txemi Etxebarria was born in the town of Arrasate (Gipuzkoa, Spain) on October 9, 1980. When he was 8 years old he started playing the horn and at the age of 18 he moved to Bilbao to continue his studies at Conservatorio Superior J. C. de Arriaga, combining this study with Environmental Technician and Music Teacher Training at the University of Basque Country.

Once he finished these studies, and thanks to a grant awarded by the 'Province of Gipuzkoa', Etxebarria moved to the Netherlands to pursue his master’s degree at the Maastricht Conservatorium. Apart from studying jazz and piano, for 4 years he was chosen to receive private composition classes from the Dutch composer Jef Penders. At that time, he decided to start his orchestral conducting studies, first in Maastricht with Enrico Delamboye and Jan Stulen and afterwards at the Royal Conservatorium in Antwerp (Belgium) with Ivo Venkov, where he successfully concluded his master studies in this field.

Etxebarria has trained for several years in Qi Gong, an oriental energetic art based on slow body movement. Qi Gong has become part of his conducting technique and he uses it in conducting courses, helping in this way to organically integrate energy into the movements of his students.

He also has composed music for several ensembles. You can listen to some of Etxebarria’s works by following the link 'Compositions'. He is always interested to hear reactions to it, so please tell him what you think.