Jorge Luis Prats Soca (born 3 July 1956) is a

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

n pianist living in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Prats Soca was born in

Camagüey Camagüey () is a city and municipality in central Cuba and is the nation's third-largest city with more than 333,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Camagüey Province. It was founded as Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe in 1514, by Sp ...

. He studied piano since 1963 under Barbara Díaz Alea. In 1970, he was accepted into

National Art School The National Art School (NAS) is a tertiary level art school, located in , an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The school is an independent accredited higher education provider offering specialised study in studio arts ...

, from which he graduated in 1976. He studied under Frank Fernández and Margot Rojas. In 1977, Prats won first prize at the Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition in France. Later he studied with Rudolf Kehrer in Moscow, Magda Tagliaferro in Paris, Paul Badura-Skoda in Vienna and

Witold Małcużyński Witold Małcużyński (August 10, 1914July 17, 1977) was a Polish pianist who specialized in the works of Frédéric Chopin. Biography Małcużyński was born in 1914 in Koziczyn (Congress Poland, Russian Empire). He was the older brother of Ka ...

in Warsaw. He was awarded a number of decorations in Cuba, including the Félix Varela medal (the highest award in Cuba in culture) in 1984 and the Premio Nacional de Música in 2004. He was the artistic director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba until 2004. In 2004, Prats left Cuba to have an opportunity to travel. He settled in Spain and in 2005 became a naturalized Spanish citizen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prats, Jorge Luis Living people 1956 births Cuban classical pianists National Art Schools (Cuba) alumni Spanish classical pianists Cuban emigrants to Spain Naturalised citizens of Spain