Venezuelan/Italian pianist Luis Parés’ busy international career has taken him to many countries such as the USA, Venezuela, UK, Spain, Italy, Oman, Israel and China. He has appeared at the most prestigious British venues including the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, Conway Hall, St Martin-in-the-Fields and St John's Smith Square in London, the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, West Road Concert Hall in Cambridge and the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford. He has performed with distinguished orchestras including the Caracas Symphony Orchestra and Maracaibo Symphony Orchestra (Venezuela), the Valles Symphony Orchestra and Barcelona Wind Band (Barcelona), Cambridge University Chamber Orchesra, Oxford University Orchestra, Charities Philharmonia and the Hallam Sinfonia in the UK. He is sought-after chamber musician and accompanist, he has been a faculty member at Keshet Eilon International Violin Mastercourse (Israel) in the last two years and he is Executive Director at New Virtuosi International Violin Mastercourse (Italy).
Luis won First Prize at the XI Ricard Viñes International Piano Competition (Lerida, Spain), First Prize at the Silvia Eisenstein National Piano Competition (Venezuela) and was one of the winners of the 2006 Making Music Young Concert Artists Awards. After winning the RCM Concerto Competition he was invited to perform Beethoven First Piano Concerto with the RCM Sinfonietta and Neil Thomson and he was a finalist at the 2007 YCAT Final Auditions held at Wigmore Hall. He has also received important chamber music prizes such as Third Prize at the Maria Canals International Music Competition - Duo Sonatas Category (Spain), the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe Gwyneth George Prize (UK) and First Prize at the XIV Paper de Musica Competition (Spain).
He started his musical studies with Juan Antúnez and also studied with Sergio Cimarosti, the Trio di Trieste and Igor Lavrov. He obtained a First Class BMus Degree and a MMus Degree in Advanced Performance with Distinction from the Royal College of Music where he studied with Gordon Fergus-Thompson and Andrew Ball. He held various RCM awards, a Sir Richard Stapley Educational Trust Award and a Myra Hess Award administered by the MBF. Luis held the 2007/08 Mills Williams Junior Fellowship at the Royal College of Music.
This season’s highlights include a return to the Barcelona Wind Band in November with Stravinsky’s Concerto for piano and winds, chamber music recitals in the UK, Spain and Switzerland, and solo recitals in Washington DC and Baltimore.
