Jury

“Prats’ sound corpulence is impressive,

His musicality and intelligence are overwhelming.

Sensitivity and versatility draw attention

that lavishes from the keyboard. It looks like an orchestra

when he transcribes the outcome of Tristan (Wagner) on the piano

and a guitar when he evokes I. Albéniz…”

José María Prat (IBERCAMARA President)

Jorge Luis Prats Soca was born in Camagüey (Cuba) on July 3, 1956. He studied music at the National School of Arts in Havana.

At age 20 (1977) he won “the First Grand Prix” of the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud International Competition in Paris, France. In addition, he was awarded: other additional trophies that had been withheld: the prize for the best interpreter of the work of Maurice Ravel and Andre Jolivet, the Chevillon Bonnaud and the Mohan prize.

He additionally received a series of scholarships: first to the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where he continued studies with the grandmaster Rudolf Kerer. Later at the Paris Conservatory he was under the tutelage of Magda Tagliaferro. And then he moved to Vienna, where, at the “Higher Academy of Music and Performing Arts” (today Universität für Musik und darstelle Kunst), he specialized in the style of Viennese classics, with Professor Paul Badura-Skoda.

His concert tours have taken him to all the countries of the European continent, North, Central and South America, China, Japan and Korea. He has performed in major concert halls, including: The Royal Festival Hall in London, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He has been a soloist with the orchestras: the BBC, and the “Royal Philharmonic” of London, the Dallas Symphony, the EOS of New York, the Lamoreaux and Pas de Loup of Paris, the Berlin Opera Orchestra, the Philharmonic of Prague and others. He has also been a highly sought-after performer for the Mexico City Orchestra, and has occasionally included in his tours performances with the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra and the Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Caracas., National Orchestra of Spain, Galicia Orchestra, Orchestra of Barcelona, Gulbenkian Orchestra of Portugal, National Orchestra of France, Paris Orchestra, Valencia Orchestra, Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, Verdi Orchestra of Milan, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Macau Philharmonic Orchestra, Gran Canarias Orchestra, Opera Orchestra from Frankfurt,……..

His symphonic repertoire includes several concertos by Mozart, the five concertos and the Beethoven Choral Fantasia, the two concertos by Brahms, all the concertos by Rachmaninov, the two concertos by Shostakovitch, Prokofiev (second and third), the two concertos by Liszt, the two by Chopin, in addition to the compositions for piano and orchestra by: Ravel, Saint Saens, Grieg, Schumann, Dohnanyi, Tchaikovski and Scriabin.

His repertoire, for solo piano, includes the entire Well-Tempered Clavier and Bach Partitas. All Mozart sonatas. Many of Beethoven’s sonatas. Almost all of Chopin’s work. From Liszt: the sonata, the studies, Rhapsodies and the Mephisto waltz. Stravinsky’s “Petroushka” Suite. Spanish music is one of his specialties, he has obtained great successes with the two Goyescas notebooks by Granados, and the “Suite Iberia” by Albeniz. Regarding the music of Latin America, Maestro Prats has a predilection for the work of Heitor Villalobos from Brazil. And his repertoire of Cuban music and dance is inexhaustible and all-encompassing.

He has made many recordings for BBC London. He also participated as a soloist in a series for Austrian TV about the “History of the Piano”. In it he had the opportunity to perform his work on authentic antique instruments, including one of Franz Liszt’s pianos. The labels: Pathe Marconi, Deutsche Grammophon, ASV, IMP, Decca and The Musical Heritage have released several CDs of his recitals and concerts.

The “Patrons of exceptional artists” of the United States sponsored a DVD that immortalized, in 2007, his masterful participation in the “International Piano Festival” in Miami.

In 2011, he was the pianist chosen as a performer for the gala concert with which Barcelona and Spain would celebrate the 100 years of existence of the two Goyescas notebooks, the masterpiece of Enrique Granados, whose music was composed in Barcelona in the year 1911. This celebration also included the live recording of the recital, which resulted in a CD on the Decca label.

He teaches some courses at Conservatories in Spain, Paris, Amsterdam and the USA.

He has been a member of the jury in several international competitions, including the Amsterdam, Marguerite Long-Jacues Thibaud in Paris, Ferruccio Bussoni in Bolzano Italy, Angelica Morales in Mexico, and the Shanghai, Queen Elizabeth, Brussels international competition.