Marcos Madrigal (

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.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 ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

Early life and career

Marcos Madrigal was three years old when he started studying

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

. In 2007, he graduated with honors from the University of Arts of Cuba (ISA) in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

Teresita Junco. He attended Master Classes at the Conservatory of Southern Switzerland in

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

and at the

International Piano Academy Lake Como The International Piano Academy Lake Como is a piano academy. Administration *President of Honor: Martha Argerich *President and Artistic Director: William Grant Naboré William Grant Naboré is an American pianist and pedagogue, born in Roanoke, ...

, where he had the chance to study with

Andreas Staier Andreas Staier (born 13 September 1955 in Göttingen) is a German pianist and harpsichordist. Life Staier studied piano and harpsichord in the Hochschule für Musik in Hanover and Amsterdam. He studied piano with Kurt Bauer and Erika Haase, a ...

Dimitri Bashkirov Dmitri Aleksandrovich Bashkirov (; November 1, 1931 – March 7, 2021) was a Russian pianist and academic teacher. Trained in his hometown Tbilisi and Moscow, he began an international career as a soloist when he won the Marguerite Long Piano Co ...

Fou Ts'ong Fou Ts'ong (; 10 March 1934 – 28 December 2020) was a Chinese and British pianist who was the first pianist of his national origin to achieve international recognition. He came to prominence after winning third prize and the Polish Radio Prize ...

, John Perry,

Malcolm Bilson Malcolm Bilson (born October 24, 1935) is an American pianist and musicologist specializing in 18th- and 19th-century music. He is the Frederick J. Whiton Professor of Music in Cornell University, Ithaca, New York Bilson is one of the foremost pl ...

and especially with his mentor

William Grant Naboré William Grant Naboré is an American pianist and pedagogue, born in Roanoke, Virginia where he studied with Kathleen Kelly Coxe, a pupil of Alexander Siloti. He later studied with musicologist Anne McClenney at the Hollins College in his early year ...

. He has performed in recitals, and as a soloist with

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

, in many of the most renowned concert halls of the world, such as the

Teatro Colón The Teatro Colón () is a historic opera house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is considered one of the ten best opera houses in the world by National Geographic. According to a survey carried out by the acoustics expert Leo Beranek among leadin ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, the

Auditorium Parco della Musica An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoriums can be found in entertainment venues, community halls, and t ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, the

Queen Elizabeth Hall The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts European classical music, classical, jazz, and avant-garde music, talks and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, the

National Concert Hall The National Concert Hall (NCH) (An Ceoláras Náisiúnta) is a national cultural institution, sometimes described as "the home of music in Ireland". It comprises the actual concert hall operation, which in various chambers hosts over 1,000 ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, the Auditorium Manuel de Falla of

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

, the Bucharest Opera House, the

Volkstheater The Volkstheater (translated as "People's Theatre") in Vienna was founded in 1889 by request of the citizens of Vienna, amongst them the dramatist Ludwig Anzengruber and the furniture manufacturer Thonet, in order to offer a popular counter weig ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, the Teatro Rossini of

Pesaro Pesaro (; ) is a (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, capital of the province of Pesaro and Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the ...

, the Teatro delle Muse of

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

, the Teatro Gentile da Fabriano of

Fabriano Fabriano is a town and ''comune'' of Ancona province in the Italian region of the Marche, at above sea level. It lies in the Esino valley upstream and southwest of Jesi; and east-northeast of Fossato di Vico and east of Gubbio (both in U ...

, the Teatro Góngora of

Córdoba Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, the second largest city in Argentina and the capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cord ...

and the Qintai Grand Theater of

Wuhan Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

, working with notable conductors, such as

Claudio Abbado Claudio Abbado (; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the Berlin Philharm ...

Leo Brouwer Juan Leovigildo Brouwer Mezquida (born March 1, 1939) is a Cubans, Cuban composer, conducting, conductor, and classical guitarist. He is a Member of Honour of the International Music Council. Early years Brouwer was born in Havana, Cuba. When he ...

, Paul Mann,

Enrique Diemecke Enrique Arturo Diemecke (born July 9, 1952) is a Mexican conductor, violinist and composer. He is currently the Artistic General Director of the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and music director of the Buenos Aires Philharmonic and the Flint, Mich ...

and Lorenzo Ramos. He has also collaborated in several projects with Oscar-winning composer

Nicola Piovani Nicola Piovani (born 26 May 1946) is an Italian classical musician, theater and film score composer. In 1999, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score for Roberto Benigni's film '' Life Is Beautiful'' (1997). Biography After ...

, as well as with other distinguished composers in the film and theater world. In 2015, he gave his celebrated debut in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

at the Finney Hall in

Oberlin Oberlin may refer to: ; Places in the United States * Oberlin Township, Decatur County, Kansas ** Oberlin, Kansas, a city in the township * Oberlin, Louisiana, a town * Oberlin, Ohio, a city * Oberlin, Licking County, Ohio, a ghost town * Oberlin, ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. Since 2017 he has been the Artistic Director of ''Habana Clásica'', an international classical music festival held in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Premio Jaén The Premio Jaén (Jaén Prize) is the longest-running piano competition in Spain. It was established in 1958 and is held in the Andalusian city Jaén. The Competition has been a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions Th ...

" (

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 ...

), the " Panama International Piano Competition" (

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

), the International Piano Competition "María Clara Cullel" (

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

), and the International Piano Competition "Ignacio Cervantes" (

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 ...

). In 2012, he was awarded the International Award "Gold Medal Maison des Artistes", granted by the Association for Culture, Arts, Science and Social Commitment at the

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...

Recording career

Among his most recent recordings are ''Homo Ludens'', with M°

; ''Concert for Four Hands'', with Cuban pianist Teresita Junco; the ''Opera Omnia for Piano and Orchestra of José María Vitier''; a monograph dedicated to Cuban composer

Ernesto Lecuona Ernesto Lecuona y Casado (; August 7, 1895 – November 29, 1963) was a Cuban composer and pianist, many of whose works have become standards of the Latin, jazz and classical repertoires. His over 600 compositions include songs and zarzuelas as ...

, ''Cuba'', which was critically acclaimed and won numerous awards, among which are the ''Choc de Classica'' (France), the ''Melómano de Oro'' (Spain), the ''Cubadisco 2016'' (Cuba), and the ''5 stars of Diapason'' (France). Furthermore, he has recorded live concerts and has participated in several programs for many famous Radio and TV channels all over the world, such as the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Vatican Radio Vatican Radio (; ) is the official broadcasting service of Vatican City. Established in 1931 by Guglielmo Marconi, today its programs are offered in 47 languages, and are sent out on short wave, DRM, medium wave, FM, satellite and the Internet. ...

Radiotelevisione svizzera Radiotelevisione svizzera, officially Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana (; "Swiss Radiotelevision of the Italian Language"), shortened to RSI (formerly RTSI until 2009), is a subsidiary of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SS ...

(RSI),

Radio Suisse Romande The Radio Suisse Romande (RSR) was an enterprise unit within public-broadcasting corporation SRG SSR. It was responsible for the production and transmission of French-language radio programmes in Switzerland. RSR's headquarters were situated in ...

(RSR), and the Italian

Rai Radio 3 Rai Radio 3 (''Radio tre'') is an Italian radio channel operated by the state-owned public-broadcasting organization RAI and specializing in culture and classical music. It is currently directed by Andrea Montanari. Founded on 1 October 1950 ...

, which in 2013 broadcast a 5-episode documentary dedicated to his life with the title “Piano Libre – The other music of Cuba”.Piano Libre - L'altra musica di Cuba (it)
''radio3.rai.it''.

References

External links

''Official Website''
''marcosmadrigal.com'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Madrigal, Marcos 1984 births 21st-century classical pianists Cuban classical pianists Living people Male classical pianists