BIOGRAPHY
The young pianist Álvaro Mur emerges as one of the young promises in Spanish piano performance, with numerous awards endorsing his national and international trajectory. He has received the First Prize and EMCY Prize at the 90th Concurso Juventudes Musicales de España, First Prize at the '2020 Bonn' Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition, Silver Star at the Music & Stars Awards 2020, First Prize at the Guadalquivir International Piano Festival, First Prize at the International Music Competition Antoni Besses, First Prize at the III Piano Meeting Ourense, Audience Award and 'Jardí dels Tarongers' Prize at the International Music Competition Les Corts, Second Prize at the III International Piano Competition Ciudad de Sevilla 'Julio García Casas,' and a long list of awards and scholarships like the one granted by the Music4Rom project at the Colegio de España de Paris.
Throughout his career, he has performed in venues and festivals across Spain, Italy, Portugal, France, Sweden, Morocco, and the USA. He has been invited to venues such as Teatro Monumental (Madrid, Spain), Teatro de la Maestranza (Seville, Spain), Palazzo Chigi Saracini (Siena, Italy), Casa de la Cultura de Gerona (Gerona, Spain), Instituto Cervantes de Palermo (Palermo, Italy), Palauet Albéniz (Barcelona, Spain), Piano Salon Christophori (Berlin, Germany); and festivals such as the Miami International Piano Festival (USA), Aurora Music Festival (Sweden), XXII Semana Internacional de Piano de Óbidos (Portugal), Music4Rom (France), MusaE (Spain), Música als Parcs (Barcelona, Spain), Guadalquivir International Piano Festival (Spain), and Piano Meeting Ourense (Spain), among many others.
With an extensive and continuously expanding repertoire for piano and orchestra, Álvaro has received invitations to perform alongside orchestras such as the RTVE Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Seville, the Chorus of Teatro Villamarta, and the Joven Orquesta Mediterránea, conducted by directors such as Michael Thomas, Félix Ardanaz, José Miguel Román, Alejandro Muñoz, and Jesús Alonso Cuesta.
He has recorded for television and radio, including performances on La 2 de RTVE, Radio Clásica (Spain), and Antena 2 (Portugal). His debut CD, 'Introspección: Franck, Falla & Ravel,' released by Edicions Albert Moraleda, has received critical acclaim, as reflected in Francisco J. Balsera's review for Revista Melómano: 'In short, Álvaro Mur maximizes the expressive possibilities of these works, performing them with total ease and outstandingly.
In the realm of education, Álvaro has been invited to conduct courses on piano technique and interpretation at various conservatories across Spain. His dedication to sharing knowledge and inspiring young musicians has led him to conduct educational concerts and talks, particularly in collaboration with the Concurs Internacional de Música Maria Canals.
Born in Ceuta in 1993, Álvaro pursued his higher education studies at the Conservatorio Superior de Música 'Manuel Castillo' in Seville under the tutelage of maestro Alfonso Calderón de Castro, graduating with honors. Later, he studied with the concert pianist Lilya Zilberstein at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena and in Vienna. He completed his training by pursuing a Master's degree at the Conservatorio Liceu in Barcelona under the guidance of maestro Josep M. Colom.
Furthermore, his musical education has been enriched by receiving classes from esteemed musicians and teachers such as Marie-Françoise Bucquet, Jorge Luis Prats, Dmitri Alexeev, Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Boris Berman, José Ramos-Santana, Josu de Solaun, Ilya Itin, Amir Katz, Zlata Chochieva, Francesco Libetta, Artur Pizarro, Carlo Palese, Giselle Brodsky, Jorge Chaminé, Michiko Shoji, Luca Chiantore, Ana Guijarro, Brenno Ambrosini, among others. Additionally, due to his interest in contemporary music, he maintained contact with the composer Joan Guinjoan to work on and study his work. He has also received pieces for their premieres from Hugo Gómez Chao and Luis Román Cárdenas.
His great curiosity about the entirety of the repertoire has led him to regularly collaborate with other musicians in chamber music, particularly working closely with singers and other pianists, delving into symphonic repertoire, orchestral conducting techniques, and composition.