Performed by: Andrea Jiménez, soprano, and Rinaldo Zhok, piano
Settled in Madrid in 1855, Dámaso Zabalza worked as a concert pianist and piano teacher at the Conservatory. He was part of the Society of Quartets, founded in 1863 by Jesús de Monasterio. He has an extensive catalogue of publications, which includes both educational and piano compositions. His compositional style is settled within the virtuosity of 19th century soloist music. His works range from opera fantasies to compositions based on folk themes, such as the choral compositions Laurak bat and Kantaritalde donostiarrari, or the piano compositions Maritxu; Aritzari, zortzico; El eco del monte Auza, fantasy of a Basque melody, or Las campanas del Roncal (in memory of Gayarre).
14 to 18 September 2020.
Andrea Jiménez
She began her musical studies at the Pablo Sarasate Conservatory in Pamplona, specialising in violin and singing. With a scholarship from the University of Bern (Switzerland) and the Government of Navarre, in 2016 she was part of the Swiss Opera Studio of the University of Bern. At the same time, she worked at the Theater Orchester Biel Solothurn in the 2017/18 season, performing the roles of Brigitte in Iolanta by Tchaikovsky, Valencienne in Die lustige Witwe by Lehár, Donna Elvira and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni by Gazzaniga in Swiss theatres, under directors such as Vladislav Karklin or Jérôme Pillement. Among her performances, she has stood out in roles such as that of Fräulein Silberklang in Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor, Pamina in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Serpina in Pergolesi's La serva padrona, or Adina and Giannetta in Donizetti's L’elisir d’amore.
Rinaldo Zhok
Born in Trieste (Italy), he began learning piano at the age of 7 under his mother’s teaching. He continued his studies with Clara Lenuzza at the Giuseppe Tartini State Conservatory in Trieste. He completed his education at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich, under the guidance of the famous duo Yaara Tal & Andreas Groethuysen, specialising in piano duo together with Cristina Santín. As a soloist, he continued his training at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen (Germany), where he obtained his second Konzertdiplom under the guidance of Boris Bloch. He also studied at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome, Italy), graduating cum laude under the guidance of Sergio Perticaroli and Stefano Fiuzzi. He continued his training in courses imparted by such teachers such as Lazar Berman, Riccardo Zadra, Dario De Rosa, Mauro Minguzzi and Pier Narciso Masi. He has performed numerous concerts in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Austria, France, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Hungary and Norway, both as a soloist, in chamber ensembles and with orchestras. He has also collaborated with young artists such as Massimiliano Miani, first soloist clarinet of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, and violinist Ana María Valderrama. Since 2014, he has played piano duo with Portuguese pianist Artur Pizarro.
He has received awards in numerous competitions (F. Mendelssohn International Competition for young pianists 2003 - 1st prize; the International Piano Competition Halina Czerny-Stefańska in memoriam, Poznan, 2008 - 4th prize; International Piano Competition Performance Without Limits, Lodz, 2013 - 1st prize). He has recorded two piano music CDs, premiering music by Italian composers Mario Zafred and Antonio Bibalo. Since 2013, he has been an artist for Odradek Records, where he debuted with a CD recording of Franz Liszt's paraphrases and transcriptions of Giuseppe Verdi's music.
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