Leonel Morales Herrero was born in Madrid in 1995. Having completed his studies at the Conservatory of Music in Castellón, he is currently studying at the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts of Alfonso X el Sabio University (Madrid) under the direction of his father, Leonel Morales. Last year (2015) he won the top prizes at three piano competitions in the Comunitat Valenciana. He has also won first prizes at numerous international competitions, including the Lyon International Piano Competition (2016), the César Franck International Piano Competition (Brussels, 2015), the Marisa Montiel Piano Competition (Jaén-Linares, 2013; he also won the special prize for musicality at this competition), the Xátiva Competition (2012), the Santa Cecilia International Piano Competition (Segovia, 2010), the Antón García Abril International Competition (Teruel, 2009) and the Hazen Competition (Madrid, 2009). In 2014 he won the Gran Diploma de Honor and a prize for the best interpretation of an impressionist work at the Parnassós International Piano Competition in Monterrey (Mexico). He has attended masterclasses given by L. Morales, V. Balzani, B. Berman, P. Reach, I. Scheps, S. Mauser, Y. Didenko, G. Mazzoccante, P. Gililov, A. Bonatta, J. Rouvier, A. Zenziper and A. Froelich. At the age of 15 he performed Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No 1 in Adana (Turkey) with the Cukurova State Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Emin Güven Yasliçam. Obtaining a great success, he was invited back to Turkey to perform Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No 1 in Antalya. He has also performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 4 under the direction of Giuseppe Mancini in Madrid and in Valencia with Sergio Furió. He has performed in numerous concert halls in Austria, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Mexico, Slovenia and Spain. He has premiered works by several Spanish composers. He is a member of the teaching staff of the International Piano Course for Children & Teenagers and an assistant at the Leonel Morales International Masterclass and Piano Festival.

The Rupnik Piano Trio consists of violinist Manca Rupnik (1996), cellist Nejc Rupnik (2000) and pianist Anže Rupnik (1998). All three musicians have won multiple prizes at national and international competitions. They have been playing as a trio for six years, initially under the guidance of teachers Kaja Lojevec Stražar and Urša Kržič at Vrhnika Music School and then, beginning in September 2013, at the Conservatory of Music and Ballet in Ljubljana under Tomaž Lorenz, sadly recently deceased, and since March with Matija Lorenz. The Rupnik Piano Trio was the recipient of the 2015 Škerjanc Prize of the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet for academic excellence and musical performance. Since December 2013 the trio has performed more times in Lubljana (“Musical Sundays at the Union with Prof. Lorenz” cycle in Grand Hotel Union, Young Virtuosi cycle in the Knights’ Hall, Križanke, in the Red Hall of the Town Hall or “Magistrat”), in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Vrhnika, at an “Evening of Russian Music for Piano Trio” at the Bled Festival and at Gewerkenegg Castle in Idrija as part of Gallus Fest 2015. The Rupnik Trio also performed in Italy (Rome and Duino). In April this year, during the Imago Sloveniae festival, the trio performed at a concert in memory of the brothers Primož and Tomaž Lorenz in the Red Hall of Ljubljana Town Hall. In July they gave a concert at the Ljubljana City Museum. Nejc Rupnik plays a cello by luthier Katharina Abbühl (2011). Manca Rupnik plays the “Sub spirito” violin (1999), made by the Cremona-based luthiers Alessandro Crillovi and Katharina Abbühl.

Programme

M. Ravel: La Valse

S. Prokofjev:  Sonata No 8 in B flat major, Op. 84

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F. Schubert:  Notturno in E flat major, Op. 148, D. 897

A. Piazzolla:  The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires