Since May 2007, when Jorge Luis Prats performed for the first time at the Miami International Piano Festival, his career has experienced a meteoric rise. His début in the prestigious “Meister Pianisten” series at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam was received with such a standing ovation that in 2010 he returned to the same series for the third time, an honour previously reserved only for Brendel and Sokolov.

 

In May 2010 he replaced Nelson Freire in a recital at the Salle Pleyel in Paris with such an extraordinary success of audience that it was repeated in September of that same year at the festival Piano aux Jacobins in Toulouse. Due to these successes he was invited by the organisers of prestigious French series in Autumn 2011 such as Les Grands Interprètes de Lyon, the Grand Théatre de Aix en Provence and re-invitations to the Piano 4 Étoiles series at the Salle Pleuel and to perform Rachmaninoff with the Orchestre de Paris and Paavo Järvi.

 

He has performed in Europe, Latin America, China, Japan and Korea and has played with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, etc. In Mexico with the Mexico City Orchestra, the OFUNAM Orchestra and the Jalapa Orchestra and in South America with the Columbia Philharmonic, the Simon Bolivar and the Caracas Municipal Orchestra.

 

He is regularly invited as a professor by institutions such as the National University of Colombia in Bogotá, National School of the Arts in Havana, Centro de las Artes in Mexico, Conservatory of Córdoba in Spain, Royal Conservatory of Toronto, and he was also Artistic Director of the National Orchestra of Cuba from 1985 to 2002.

 

Jorge Luis Prats, born in Camaguey, Cuba, in 1956, studied with Cesar Perez Sentenar, Barbara Diaz Alea, Margot Rojas and Alfredo Díez at the Escuela Nacional de las Artes. After graduating, he was granted a scholarship to study at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, where he studied with Rudolf Kerer and continued his studies at the Paris Conservatory and the Hochschule in Vienna. With Paul Badura Skoda and Magda Tagliaferro.

 

At the age of 21 he won the first prize at the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris and also the special prize for the best interpretation of Ravel and Jolivet.

 

Jorge Luis Prats’ discography includes the first recording of Scriabin’s 24 Preludes, Concertos by Beethoven, Grieg, Rachmaninoff and Chopin, in addition to works by Cuban composers. His concert at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts for the Miami International Piano Festival was recorded and released as a DVD for VAI.

 

Jorge Luis signed an exclusive contract with DECCA and his first recording with them was Granados’ Goyescas, which was released in June 2011.