Pilar Jurado
ACADEMIC TRAINING
Degrees in piano, singing, composition, conducting, musicology and music pedagogy at the Madrid Royal Conservatory. Thesis Prize in singing and composition. Scholarship from the Belgian government for training at the European Centre for Opera and Vocal Arts (1988). Improvement in the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, composition with Franco Donatoni and singing with Carlo Bergonzi (1992). She expanded her training in Paris, Siena, Rome, Liège, Munich and Amsterdam. Masterclasses with Montserrat Caballe, Ileana Cotrubaş, Mady Mesplé, Schuyler Hamilton, Bryan Ferneyhough, György Ligeti, Luis de Pablo, Arturo Tamayo, José Evangelista, Leonardo Balada …
PROFESSIONAL CAREER
Pilar Jurado is one of the most remarkable figures in European classical music. Composer, singer and conductor, she is the first woman in history who has premiered an opera, La página en blanco (The blank page) at Teatro Real in Madrid, being also the author of the libretto and playing one of the leading roles, obtaining an unprecedented international recognition. She was also Professor of Counterpoint and Fugue (chair of composition) of the Madrid Royal Conservatory between 1991 and 1998. Her repertoire moves with surprising versatility from early music, having shared the stage with big names like Jordi Savall and Christophe Coin, to contemporary music, being the rerefence Singer to most renowned Spanish composers and having performed and recorded works of international composers such as Pierre Boulez, Luciano Berio, Franco Donatoni, Brian Ferneyhough, Gérard Grisey, James Macmillan, Unsuk Chin, Marlos Nobre, Morton Feldman and Jean-Claude Risset, among others.
She has performed as a soprano with the London Symphony Orchestra, National Orchestra of Spain, Symphony Orchestra of Strasbourg, Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Symphony Orchestra and Choir of RTVE , Royal Seville Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of Castile and Leon, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, Orquestra Simfònica del Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Madrid
Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Barroca de Limoges, Opera Orchestra of Avignon, Portuguese National Symphony orchestra, orchestra of the Greek Television, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, under the direction of G. Sinopoli, J. Levine, R. Frübeck de Burgos, A. Tamayo, G. Noseda, E. García Asensio, A. Ros Marbá, JR Encinar, Pedro Halffter, Beat Furrer, Kuame Ryan, L. Pfaff, EP Salonen and M. Schøntwandt, among others.
As a composer she has premiered more than 90 works and has received commissions from the Spanish Ministry of Culture, different Spanish and American universities, international festivals, highlighting the Festival de Música de Canarias, Vlaanderen Festival (Belgium and Holland), Aix-en-Provence and Strasbourg ( France), Graz, Gitarrenfestival Rust and Carinthischer Sommer Festival (Austria), Saarbrücken, Berlin (Germany), New York International Keyboard Festival (USA), Cervantino Festival (Mexico), Festival of Contemporary Music of Seville, Fall Festival of Madrid, Spanish Music Festival of Cadiz Religious Music Week of Cuenca, Ensems, Festival of Contemporary Music of Alicante, Festival of Music and Dance of Granada, Arts Festival of Castilla y Leon…, and opera houses such as Teatro Real, Teatro de la Zarzuela, Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, and the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
In 2007 creates a record label, Digital TransÓpera, in which she has published five albums: L'Arte della coloratura (2008), Silences of the Moon (2009), From Spain to Haendel (2010), Una Voz de Cine (2011) and El Diablo en el Poder (2014).
Since 2013 she is Ambassador for the International Labour Organization and cofounder together with Claudio Abbado, Jose Antonio Abreu and Daniel Barenboim of the initiative "Music Against Child Labour", composing for the
initiative the "Nana to sleep a child that does not rest", becoming the World Anthem against Child Labour.
President of the Madrid Association of Composers (1999-2009). Founder and Director of the International Festival of Contemporary Music in Madrid, COMA (1999-2009), se has been a member of the Council of Culture of the Community of Madrid (2005-2009) and in 2012 was appointed by the Minister of Education as member of Culture of the National Council of Performing Arts and Music and the Arts Council of Music of the Ministry of Culture. Pilar Jurado was counselor at AIE (management institutuion for artists and
musical performers) and President of SGAE (Spanish Society of composers, authors and publishers). She is also active member of Madrid Woman´s Week
and of the International Women´s Forum, member of the Board of Directors of the Academy of Performing Arts and Patroness of FIES (Spanish Institutional Foundation).
She is founder and Artistic and Executive Director of MADWOMENFEST, the international festival with the most projection of the Arts in women. Forbes magazine has placed her among the 20 most influential Spanish women.
PRIZES AND RECOGNITIONS
• Gino Bechi Prize at the International Singing Competition Francisco
Viñas 1986
• Iberoamerican Reina Sofía Composition Prize 1992
• Jacinto e Inocencio Guerrero Award 1992
• Flora Prieto Award 1992
• Cristobal Halffter Prize 1993
• 2nd. SGAE Composition Prize 1994
• 1st. SGAE Composition Prize 1997 (first woman to get it)
• Award "Ojo Crítico" of RNE 1998 for her triple facet as a singer,
composer and conductor.
• Composition Prize Villa de Madrid 2000
• Quijote de la Música 2009
• Jury of the National Music Prize 2010
• Euterpe Award 2010
• Ethics and Aesthetics Award (Capri, 2010)
• awarded with the Cross of Merit of the Order of Malta (Rome, 2010)
• Top Woman of the Year 2011 Awards Arts Glamour
• Woman who makes a difference of International Women's Forum
(Leathership World Conference, San Francisco, 2012)
• Best Voice of the Year, awarded by the Association of Lyrical Artists
and Friends of the Opera (Ferrol, 2013)
• It has been recognized among lasTop100 Women Leaders in Spain
2013.
• MWW 2014 International Award, received by the Reina Sofía,
Bethlehem Frau, Teresa Palahí (Vice President of ONCE) and Amaya
Valdemoro (Sportsman).
• Club 25 Award 2014 (from spanish journalists)
• Latin America Bridge Award 2014 by YPO, which has received from the
hands of the Minister of Development, Ana Pastor.
• "Love Mayor" of the XXXI National Week Zarzuela (La Solana, 2014)
• Gold Antenna 2014 awarded by the Federation of Radio and
Television.
• Special Award 2015 Clara Campoamor (to the Woman of the Year)
• Forbes magazine ranks among the 20 most influential Spanish women
(July 2015)
• Culture Prize of the Community of Madrid 2015
Cultural Ambassador of Foro Iberoamericano de Ciudades 2016-2018
“Meninas Prize” awarded by the Government of Spain 2017
“Biznaga de Plata” "Empowered Woman of the Year" (Malaga, 2018)
“Lena Madesin" Award from BPW (Business and Professional Women) 2018
Key Works
Orchestra
Soloist(s) and orchestra
Ensemble
2 – 8 Players
Solo (excluding keyboard)
Solo keyboards(s)
Chorus and orchestra
Solo voice
Voice (voices) and keyboard
Voice and ensemble
Voz and orchestra / Voice, chorus and orchestra
Opera and theatrical music
Orchestral arrangements
Works
Orquesta
Solista(s) y orquesta
Banda / Vientos / Brass Ensemble
Ensemble
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