Gema has hold 2 academy positions in the previous seasons as well as youth orchestra positions. She first won the academy position with Phil Zuid in 2022 and later in 2024 she won the academy position with the Orquestra Simfonica des Illes Ballears.

She joined the Nationaal JeugdOrkest in 2022 and has been able to play with them in festivals like “Young Euro Classic” and “Muziekzomer”, and incredible halls like Musikverein in Vienna, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Konzerthaus in Berlin and every major stage in the Netherlands.

In the same year 2022, Gema joined the Jóven Orquesta de Canarias, allowing her to play in the festivals “Festival de Música de Canarias” or “Quincena Musical”, with tours around the Canary Islands and Spain. Being part of these formations gave her the chance to showcase her leadership as the section timpanist since 2023.

She is an active participant of the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria since 2015, granting her almost a decade of professional playing experience. Her past collaborations also include the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Las Palmas. The repeated collaborations with this orchestras had given Gema the chance to experience symphonic, operistic and solo repertoire, from Mozart to contemporary pieces that she had the chance to premier.

These participations have led to encounters with renowned figures like conductor Elim Chan, Gunter Herbig, Karel Mark Chichón, and international soloists like Elina Garanča, Rafal Blechacz, Nikolai Luganzky or Sergej Krylov.

She had the chance to be part in masterclasses from important figures of the percussion world, like Keiko Abe, Nick Woud, Martin Grubinger, Pei-ching Wu, Momoko Kamiya, David Friedman, John Beck or Nicolas Martynciow, among others.

She begins her studies at the age of 5 with professor Francisco Navarro, principal timpanist of the OFGC, and she continues under his guidance until the end of her Professional degree, where she graduated with honors. In 2019 she crossed Europe for the commencement of her Bachelor’s degree at Conservatorium Maastricht in the class of internationally renowned timpanist Raymond Curfs and orchestral percussionists Vincent Cox and Mark Haeldermans, where she finished “cum laude”. In 2023 she began her Master’s degree in the same institution where she will finish in June of 2025.

19/01/2025. Do not edit this biography without permission. Contact: gemavegadiaz@hotmail.com