ABOUT
French-Cuban pianist, composer, artistic director and producer, Gabriel Urgell Reyes redefines the traditional image of the classical musician through his intense interpretations, the promotion of a rich Latin-American repertoire, compositions transcending genres and bold cross-disciplinary artistic productions.
Coming from an artistic background, Gabriel Urgell Reyes wins from the age of ten the most important national piano competitions in Cuba, right before appearing on the world stage. International piano competition prizes follow one another: Città di Marsala (Italy), Ignacio Cervantes (Cuba), Frechilla-Zuloaga (Spain)...
Along with the piano teaching provided by Vilma Garriga and Teresita Junco as part of the musical training modeled by the Russian school, he studied visual arts with the painter Adrián Chacón and composition with Alfredo Diez Nieto, then began learning electroacoustic music techniques with Carlos Fariñas, founder of the Estudio de Música Electroacústica y por Computadora del Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) of Cuba.
As part of his training at the ISA, he carries out transdisciplinary projects blending music, visual arts and dance and participates in meetings with personalities such as Daniel Barenboim, George Benson and Herbie Hancock. He toured major national theaters, performed electroacoustic music concerts at Havana's Teatro Amadeo Roldán, and his Cuban Choral Pieces were presented at the Museum of Fine Arts in Havana. At the age of 25, he was appointed soloist of the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra and Professor at the ISA, shortly after graduating.
Entered unanimously at the Cycle de Perfectionnement of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris in 2004, he was awarded the Blüthner Prize by the Alfred Reinhold Foundation. Within the two following years he is awarded the grants of the Meyer Foundation and the Tarrazi Fund.
Gabriel Urgell Reyes performs programs that bring together European and Latin American classics, as well as acoustic and electroacoustic works of his own at international theaters and festivals: Cité de la Musique, Salle Cortot, Les Pianissimes Festival (Paris), International Piano Festival of La Roque d'Anthéron, Angers Nantes Opera, Le Lieu Unique (Nantes), Le Volcan - National Scene (Le Havre), Elektricity Festival (Reims), Biarritz International Piano Festival, Festival de Forêts (Compiègne), Nuit d’Hiver Festival (Marseille); Mediencampus (Leipzig), Colditz Castle Auditorium, Bürgerhaus Kulturviereck (Haßloch) (Germany); Haus der Ingenieure Vienna (Austria); Auditorium of the Forbidden City of Beijing (China); Teatro Auditorium Amadeo Roldán, Auditorium of the Convento de San Francisco de Assis, Gran Teatro García Lorca, Fábrica de Arte Cubano (Havana), Teatro Sauto (Matanzas) (Cuba); Teatro Arenal (Madrid) (Spain)...
He participates at master classes with personalities such as Andrés Alén, Frank Fernández, Roberto Bravo, Mauricio Vallina, Vladimir Krainev, Anne Queffélec and Jean-Philippe Collard, and performed with orchestras such as the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Leo Brouwer, Guido López-Gavilán, Elena Herrera, Enrique Pérez Mesa, Iván del Prado, the Matanzas Symphony Orchestra (Rafael Montes, Daiana García, conductors), the Santa Clara Symphony Orchestra (Daiana García, conductor) (Cuba); the Castilla y León Symphony Orchestra (Alejandro Posada, conductor) (Spain); or the Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse conducted by Ken-David Masur.
With the Japanese artist Ayano Ohmi, he launched in 2015 the project Sacred Meetings, residency and exhibition-concerts. Both artists make drawings and erect sculptures inspired by the album Meeting Ginastera recorded by Gabriel Urgell Reyes.
His artistic achievements are regularly hailed by the press (France Musique, RFI, Pianist...) and his album Meeting Ginastera vol. 1 of Latin American classical music is awarded a Diapason d'Or, 4 Stars Classica and a Qobuzissime.
Since 2018, with Capita & Navia, his own artistic production company allowing the development of his cross-disciplinary projects, inaugurated with an exhibition-concert at the Brownstone Foundation Paris, he edited the score Piezas Familiares and produced Metaphor of Silence, album and cross-disciplinary project blending music, drawings, poems and video of his creation. The album is supported by the Fonds pour la Création Musicale (FCM) and nominated in the categories "Album Eclectic" and "Music Producer" at the 17th Annual Independent Music Awards in New York City.
In 2020, Arboretum, double-album blending classical, jazz, electroacoustic and Cuban rhythms, musical exploration of humanity's relationship to nature, is supported by the CNM, Adami and SCPP, and promoted by specialized press (France Musique, Technikart, RFI...).
In 2021, he is a Beaumarchais-SACD Laureate Composer.
