Mauricio Vallina, born in 1970, is a concert pianist based in Europe. He has been awarded in national and international competitions where prominent musicians have recognized his very marked individuality. His awards include the José Iturbi de Valencia contest (1994), Guernica (1996), and special awards for the best performance of Cuban and Spanish music. After graduating with a Gold Diploma in Havana, his hometown, he acquired a solid education at the “Tchaikovsky” Conservatory in Moscow, an academic institution that has currently included him in its official list of eminent students and then continues his training at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid and at the International Piano Foundation of Como. The essential guidance and influence of Roberto Urbay, Henrietta Mirvis, Irina Plotnikova, Joaquin Soriano, Alicia de Larrocha, Dimitri Bashkirov, Fou Tsong, Zenaida Manfugas and Martha Argerich, among other renowned teachers, give an extraordinary dimension to his artistry.

His debut at the Tonhalle in Zurich (1998) was an important step in his international promotion, since then he has performed at many of the major international festivals and classical music venues in the world. His performances are celebrated, both as a solo orchestra and in chamber music concerts and recitals, in the best-known venues in Europe, America, Asia and Australia. Among the places that have witnessed his art, are the Salle Pleyel and Salle Gaveau in Paris. The Musiekverein in Vienna. Palais des Beaux-Arts, Flagey, Théatre des Martyrs and the Conservatory Halls of Brussels and Liège. The Doelen in Rotterdam, the Tilburg Philharmonic Hall and the Rai Theater in Amsterdam. The Gewandhaus in Leipzig, and the congress hall in Karlsruhe and Lübeck. The Rai conference room and auditorium in Lugano, the Tonhalle in Zürich and Saint-Gallen. The auditoriums of Madrid, Zaragoza, Sant Cugat and the Palau de la Música in Valencia and Barcelona. The Moscow Conservatory and the Philharmonic Halls of Alma-Ata, Samara, Murmansk, Arjenikidze. The Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and the Teatro del Libertador in Córdoba, Argentina. The Teatro Colón in Bogotá. The Monterrey University Theater and the Veracruz State Theater. The Taipei and Beppu Concert Halls. The Halls of the Musical Societies of Delhi, Bombay, Puna. Many of these events have been broadcast on radio and television in these countries.

He has shared the stage with important orchestras, under the direction of Christoph Eschenbach, Augustin Dumay, Alexander Vedernikov, Howard Griffiths, Roberto Tibiriçá, Vello Pähn, Pavel Iadij, Alexander Rabinovitch, Pascal Rophé, Manuel Galduf, Guillermo Scarabino, Guillermo Becerra and Luis Gorelik, among others. In chamber music he has performed with Misha Maisky, Torleif Thedéen, Renaud Capuçon and Gautier Capuçon, Edgar Moreau, Geza Hosszu-Legocky, Mark Drobinsky, Jorge Bosso, Polina Leschenko, Alexander Mogilevsky, Evgeny Brakhman, Don-Hyek Lim, Pia Sebastiani, Graciela Reca, Gabriela Montero, Nelson Goerner, Lilya Zilberstein, Chucho Valdés, among others. He also appears in the documentaries Nightly Conversations by George Gachot and Nelson Freire, a Brazilian production by Joao Moreira Salles.

In 2001 Vallina recorded her first record production with EMI Classics International. This recording received the CHOC nomination in the magazine Le Monde de la Musique in France and was acclaimed by international critics. Starting that same year, Vallina also performed in a piano duo with Martha Argerich, performing in many countries. Memorable video and audio recordings have been left as evidence of this long collaboration. Some of these live performances have been marketed and distributed by EMI Classics International under the title Live from Lugano Festival 2006-2008-2010.

Mauricio Vallina not only stands out in the well-known classics of the piano repertoire, the interpretation of little-known works is always an essential part of his attractive programs, which alternate the most diverse styles from Bach to today's compositions. Some of these works have been dedicated to him: the First Concerto for Piano and Orchestra by the Colombian composer Arturo Cuellar, premiered by the pianist at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in 2001, and the Sonata in E-flat by the same composer, at the Tonhalle in Zürich in 2002. Recently, Vallina has also collaborated with the Austrian composer Roland Baumgartner.

Some of the notable performances that represent his particular repertoire have been: his interpretation of the Variations on a Theme by Paganini by Lutoslawsky, at the opening of the Lugano Festival in 2007, and his version of the second Mac Dowell Concert with the Liège Philharmonic Orchestra, at the opening of the Festival of the Americas in 2008. In that same year, he was chosen Stipend of the Year for the Ruhr Piano Festival. This promotional project included the recording of his recital during the event, and the premiere of one of his transcripts: The Enigma, on an album distributed with the German record magazine Fono Forum. Vallina always continues to compose transcriptions with a markedly personal style and an always recognizable label.

In parallel with her career as a concert artist, Vallina offers master classes at prestigious conservatories and universities around the world, giving personalized advice to young people who, after their classes, say they have been very inspired by their particular vision of music and piano technique. His master classes at the Vienna Conservatory, the Liceo de Barcelona, the Mozarteum in Havana, the Universidad Veracruzana and the Monterrey Festival, to name a few, have been considered “a revelation” not only by the students, but also by colleagues present in the room. He was also recently invited as a member of the jury of international competitions, participated in crossover events, and also ventured into the creation of unconventional projects.

In the years 2013-2014, he was the only classical artist invited to the Voll-Damm Jazz Festival in Barcelona. As part of this festival, Chucho Valdés officially presented the pianist's program and latest creation: Cuba Clásica. In 2015 he participated in the first Saygun Festival in the Turkish city of Izmir, collaborated again with the Blüthner Classics series in Colditz and Leipzig and then opened the Lugano Festival 2015 with the eclectic Variations for Piano and Orchestra op 25 by the Hungarian composer E. von Dohnanyi. This live performance was included in the annual CD of the Lugano festival.

After many years of absence, Vallina returned to her homeland in 2015 with two overwhelming recitals, which were all the rage among the Havana audience: her program Cuba Clásica and a monographic recital, entirely dedicated to F. Liszt and entitled by the pianist, Le concert c'est moi, according to an original phrase by the composer himself. During these performances, Cuban TV announced his return, considering him the Cuban pianist with the greatest international career today. Vallina is also part of the select cast of pianists who perform Bach concerts live from the Salle Pleyel in Paris, in a new commercial DVD of Bel Air Classiques that was released that same year. In 2016, Vallina participated in the Cartagena International Music Festival, causing a great impact on the media, and once again her annual presence is required at the fifteenth edition of the Martha Argerich Project, of the Lugano Festival. In 2017, his presence at different international festivals in Turkey, both as a performer and as a teacher, had an enormous impact. In 2018 he offered the closing recital of the Seville Youth Musical Festival and participated in the Closing Gala of the first Martha Argerich Festival in Hamburg; followed by a successful Argentine tour with orchestral works by Bach and Liszt. In 2019 he offers master classes in Spain, has been a member of the jury of the Shigeru Kawai Competition in Madrid and performs again at the Hamburg Festival, this time with Misha Maisky and other artists. His performances at the Hamburg Festivals are being distributed by Avanti Classic. In 2019, Martha Argerich appointed him honorary professor at her Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Foundation and he is currently a piano teacher at the Escuela Superior MUSICAL ARTS in Madrid.

Mauricio Vallina is considered to be one of the most interesting pianists of his generation: “a profound vision of musical drama, unmistakable lightness, enormous expressive power... and a dazzling palette of colors” are some of the terms used to describe the traits of his musical personality.

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