Joaquín Achúcarro (born November 1, 1936) is an Spanish classical pianist.

[edit] Biography and career

Achúcarro was born in Bilbao, Spain, in the difficult years of the Spanish post-war. He began piano lessons at the Bilbao Conservatory and, in 1956, at the age of 13, made his Concerto debut in Bilbao playing a Mozart concerto with a local orchestra. As a teenager he moved to Madrid to study a degree in physics, although soon after his graduation he devoted himself totally to study music and moved to Sienna to study at the Accademia Chigiana.^[1] In 1959 he won the 4th prize of the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition.^[2][3]. The same year his career was launched after his victory at the Liverpool International Competition, which led to his debut with the London Symphony Orchestra.

He has since worked in 58 countries, with 206 orchestras including some of the finest ensembles, such as the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony, Philharmonia, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Chicago Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles etc. and with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Zubin Mehta, Yehudi Menuhin, Seiji Ozawa and Sir Simon Rattle.^[4]

Since the mid-1980s, he has been a professor at the Meadows School of the Artsof the Southern Methodist University in Texas, USA.^[5][6]

Mr Achucarro has recorded over 30 CDs with different labels and in 1996 Achúcarro was knighted by King Juan Carlos with the Gold Medal of Fine Arts..^[7]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Achucarro Web Site
• from Answers.com