Antonio Soria
‘More than the well earned applause, we should feel eternal gratitude to the thoughtful promoter and to the research and interpretation. The complete and true Turina has arrived with exquisite quality and intuition with the reasoning of mind and heart’ Enrique Franco Musicologist and critic of EL PAÍS (Madrid, 25th September 2000)
Concert player and superior teacher of piano, chamber music, organ and music theory, he received the basis of his musical training in the Conservatorio Superior de Música del Liceo de Barcelona and the Conservatoire National de Region de Bordeaux (France) under the tutelage of Ramón Coll and Francis Chapelet. Among great pianists, such as Vlado Perlemuter, Ma Joao Pires, Joaquín Achúcarro and Germaine Mounier, influenced highly his
career Walid Akl, Alexis Weissenberg and Alicia de Larrocha. The latter supported his first worldwide recording of the ‘Integral Piano of Joaquín Turina’ (IPJT) executed by Antonio Soria on 16 CDs, Best Spanish Production Prize of Ritmo magazine 1995, Compact CD Prize 1997, and called ‘Integrally Historic’ by Alicia de Larrocha, who personally invited Antonio Soria to offer master classes in the Escuela Granados-Marshall in Barcelona during its centenary year. Among his numerous live recordings, was invited recently by José Luis García del Busto (secretary of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando) in the monograph program “Pianists Spanish” performing works by Soler, Chopin, Granados, Turina, Ravel and Villalobos, on the 50th anniversary of Radio Clásica RNE.
Antonio Soria performs as a soloist at recitals and concerts in Spain, Portugal, Poland, Italy, Denmark, Bulgaria, Mexico, USA, Egypt, Germany, Austria, Brazil, Sweden, Turkey, Macedonia, Norway, Russia and France with the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra of Moscow, the Leos Janaceck Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Mediterránea, Sofia Soloists Chamber Orchestra, FM Classics Symphonic Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica Estatal de México, Greensboro Philharmonia, Orquestra della Magna Grecia, Craiova National Orchestra, Orchestra Pistoiese Promusica, Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad de Guanajuato, Cappella Istropolitana, Sinfónica de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (Monterrey), conducted by Misha Rachlevnsky, Guerassim Voronkov, Plamen Djouroff, Velizar Genchev, Maurizio Colasanti, Robert Gutter, Jesús Medina, Daniele Giorgi, Raúl Gutiérrez, Wolfgang Czeipek, Valentin Doni, Salvador Brotons and Miklos Talkas among other artists as Elena Obraztsova (mezzo-soprano), Ana María Sánchez (soprano), Robert Expert (countertenor), Marçal Cervera (violoncello), Paul Meyer (clarinet) or Paul Badura-Skoda (four-hands piano). He has also been on the cover of Audioclasica, Ritmo, CD Compact; an international critic presents him as ‘a great continuator of the glories of the piano such as Iturbi and De Larrocha’ (Horacio Velázquez. Correo Musical de Buenos Aires – Argentina – no186, Oct.Nov.1997).
In 1994, as a pianist of the duo Reinecke, he was the winner of the competition ‘Paper de Música de Capellades’ by an unanimous jury chaired by Ros Marbá. Antonio Soria is doctor and master in Aesthetics and Musical Creativity, Diploma in Advanced Studies from the University of Valencia. He is in the teaching profession in the Conservatorio ‘Oscar Esplá’ in Alicante since 1995 and has been a Professor in the Department of Keyboard and Polyphonic Instruments in the Conservatorio Superior de Música ‘Salvador Seguí’ de Castellón since 1998. He is also a guest teacher at various international courses of musical interpretation: at the ?Course of Musical Perfection for Singers? in Callosa d’en Sarriá, together with Elena Obraztsova, Ana Luisa Chova, Robert Expert, Miguel Zanetti, Ana María Sánchez, Salvador Seguí, etc., the Baroque Music Course in Benidorm, the ?International Summer Course? in Denia (1995 edition, together with figures such as Victoria de Los Ángeles), the Festival-Academie aux Arcs, France (the Alps, as the only one Spanish performer). Antonio Soria is the academic and artistic director of the Fundación Sociedad de Conciertos de Albacete – institution he chairs since 2002-, the Castilla-La Mancha University Course ‘Música en la Universidad’ and the Filarmónica Cervantes Project, and piano teacher in the Conservatorio Profesional de Música ‘Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco’ de Albacete. He has been appointed by his home town major’s office as an ambassador of the Feria de Albacete (Albacete Fair), declared of international tourist interest, in commemoration of the third centenary of the privilege given to the town by King Philippe V, in 1710.
Member of the jury in national and international competitions: ?Ciudad de Albacete? (Jeunesses Musicales, 1995-2000), ‘Becas de Alta Especialización de la IAE’ (Madrid, June 2003), V Concurso Internacional de Piano Compositores de Espana (Madrid, November 2004), XXII Concurso Internacional de Musica da Cidade do Porto (October 2005), XXII Clara Haskil Piano Competition (Switzerland, August 2009), X Concurso Internacional de Piano Compositores de Espana (Madrid, November 2009), XX Concorso Internazionale Pianistico AMA Calabria (Lamezia Terme, May 2010). IV Moritz Moszkowsky, International Piano Competition (Kielce, Poland, May 2011), VIII Franz Liszt Piano Competition (Grottamare, Italy, October 2015), XXVI Piano Roma Competition Frédéric Chopin, October-November 2016).