He is a direct descendant of a family of Spanish musicians. In 1968 he began his musical studies in his native Alcoy with Mme. Pilar Mompo, a prestigious professor in that city.
In 1980 he graduated from Conservatorio Superior de Música Oscar Esplá of Alicante, and studied piano with Professor Don Jaime Más Porcel. Later on he took a pianistic refinement course with Master and Soloist José Ortiga.
In 1973 he began studying cello with Professor Oscar Esplá. He majored in orchestral and choral conducing with Profesor Vaclovas Agustinas.
In 1978, after passing an entrance test in the Elda Opera Festivals, he became resident professor at the Gran Teatro del Liceo in Barcelona, where he developed an excellent job as pianist and assistant director, and he specialized in lyricism.
He has worked as a pianist with Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras, Pedro Lavirgen, Maria Chiara, Angeles Gulin, Nicolai Gedda, Mateo Manuguerra and Paolo Montarsolo, among others. In 1981 he studied and worked with the orchestra conductor Franco Ferraris in Genoa.
He had an outstanding partnership with the Opera Theater of Krefeld during the company performance of The Knight of the Rose by Richard Strauss at the Liceo of Barcelona.
His participation and conducting of interns in the premiere of the opera by Xavier Montsalvatge A voce in off in the Gran Teatro del Liceo of Barcelona is also noteworthy. For that he received a very favorable review in the newspaper La Vanguardia.
From 1994 to 1998 he was chief conductor of the Choral Society of the EEC of Elda with which he offered numerous concerts and participated in national competitions.
In 1996 he was founder and chief conductor of the now dissolved Levante Philharmonic Orchestra with which he got several successes. Among these there are the performances of the operas La Traviata, Rigoletto, Lucia de Lammermoor, Tosca and Madama Butterfly. Several anthologies of zarzuela and a Beethoven cycle with the third, fifth and sixth symphonies stand out as well.
As Director of Choral Society of the EEC, he participated in several national choral competitions among which are those of the cities of Cieza, Valencia, Zaragoza and Sevilla. This choir was chosen in 1997 to interpret the Mass No. 2 in G by Franz Schubert under the direction of Maestro Pareja at the Cathedral of St. Nicholas.
The University of Alicante requested his cooperation for the concerts that took place in 1998 during the university election campaign. He directed the New Year concerts at the Teatro Principal in Alicante with the Classical Orchestra of Valencia.
Internationally, José Luis Pareja is in a high point of his career. He recently traveled to Mexico, Colombia, France, Italy, Romania and Turkey.
He participates regularly in the Zarzuela seasons of Teatro Colón of Bogotá. In 1999 and 2000, he directed more than 30 representations of Zarzuela with a resounding success among critics and audience and extensive coverage on television and radio in Colombia.
He has reaped significant success with multiple performances of Madama Butterfly with J. Gitto Company in Italy and France. The most prominent was in the Curci Theatre of Barletta, with Maria Pellegrini in the role of Butterfly.
He was director of the Mezzo Estate and Year-End concerts in the Gran Auditorio of Loreto (Italy) and director of Leoncavallo international singing competitions in Potenza and Giordano Competition in Foggia (Italy.)
He has been Professor of Choral Conducting in the CEFIRE centers of Alicante and Elche with courses aimed for music teachers of High School and Universities.
In 2003 he founded the company Producciones Lírico-Escénicas S.L., which is dedicated to the production of operas. He has staged Madama Butterfly at the Teatro Principal in Valencia, Lucia di Lammermoor at the Opera Festival of La Coruna and Tosca at the Teatro Auditorio of Roquetas de Mar.
In 2010 he has directed zarzuela and opera in Quito, Ecuador, and Medellin, Colombia. Fundación Prolírica of Antioquia (Colombia) has invited him to direct the 2011 Zarzuela Season.
