Luis del Valle
Luis del Valle is particularly involved in the world of chamber music, being an active collaborator with different groups and instrumental soloists. Nevertheless, his growing fame on the musical scene is due to the concert career he shares with his brother Victor, forming a piano duo that, since they won the prestigious ARD International Music Competition (Munich), has been swiftly acknowledged as one of the most outstanding chamber music formations in Europe.
Born in Vélez-Malaga, he received his early musical training at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Málaga (Malaga School for Higher Musical Studies) with Horacio Socías, Paloma Socías and José Felipe Díaz, then at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with the pianist Juhani Lagerspetz. Subsequently, he studied at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía under the direction of Dimitri Bashkirov and Claudio Martinez Mehner. Her Majesty the Queen awarded him the distinction of “Most Outstanding Chamber Musician”. He completed his academic training in this school with Márta Gulyás and at the International Chamber Music Institute of Madrid with professors Ralf Gothóni and Eldar Nebolsin.
As a vocal repertoire pianist, he has worked with special interest on lied, advised by musicians such as Ilmo Ranta, Gustav Djupsjöbacka or Larissa Gergieva, and has performed with soloists such as Sasha Vassileva, Irina Mataeva, Vladimir Moroz ... In addition, he has been invited as a repertoire pianist by the Summer Academy of the Mariinsky Theater of St. Petersburg, in Mikkeli (Finland), being its artistic director Valery Gergiev.
Luis del Valle regularly performs with the outstanding cellist Pablo Ferrández, with whom he shares an intense chamber concert career performing all over the world. He also appears regularly with violinist Ana María Valderrama and with cellist Fernando Arias, with whom he has worked on the recording project "Johannes Brahms: Tres Sonatas. Una Vida” (Columna Música). With Ana María Valderrama, he recorded the CD "À mon ami Sarasate" (Solé Recordings). Both were very well received by the audience and the critics. The album “Impulse” (IBS Classical), from the Del Valle Piano Duo, has garnered numerous awards and distinctions from different specialized media (Golden Music Melómano, Scherzo Exceptional Record...) and marks the beginning of a series of CDs dedicated to the repertoire of the pianists duo.
His future and recent activities include performances at the Auditorio Nacional de Música and Teatro Monumental (Madrid), Palau de la Música de Cataluña, Lucerna Festival (Switzerland) , Cologne Philharmonie and Baden-Baden Festpielhaus (Germany), Müpa (Budapest), Bozar (Brussels), Musikverein (Vienna), Birmingham Symphony Hall and Barbican Center (London), Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Luxembourg Philharmonie, Fundaçao Gulbenkian (Lisbon), Théâtre des Champs Elysées (Paris), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) etc...
Interested in the promotion of the Spanish music, he has participated with his brother Victor in the recording of an album with music by Spanish composer Tomás Marco and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Málaga conducted by Nacho de Paz. He has also collaborated with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia in the production of a CD with unpublished works by the Galician composer José Arriola, edited by Brilliant Classics and released on January 2019. On the other hand, he has recorded for RNE "Classic Radio", BR (Radio of Bavaria) SWR (Süden-Westen Radio), Radio WFMT (USA) and for the Sony Music record label.
Involved in bringing classical music to a wider audience, Luis del Valle created in 2014 together with his brother Víctor and the singer Pasión Vega the show "2 Pianos con Pasión", a combination of music and theatre that was presented with great success on a tour all over Spain with more than 40.000 spectators.
He currently holds a professorship at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid and is often invited to give master classes on piano and chamber music both in Spain and abroad. He has also been a professor of chamber music at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía and at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón.
The Junta de Andalucía (regional government), in combination with the Instituto Andaluz de la Juventud (Andalusian Youth Institute), awarded Víctor and Luis del Valle the distinction of “Premio Málaga Joven” (Malaga Youth Prize) for their promotion of Malaga abroad. Both brothers were awarded the "2019 Golden Shield" of the city of Vélez-Málaga, in recognition of their work in the world of music and the dissemination of their hometown as a cultural reference on the international scene.