Biography
Albert Guinovart is one of the most active musicians of his generation. Born in Barcelona in 1962, from his childhood on he began his piano studies in the Conservatorio Superior Municipal de Barcelona, which culminated in London with Maria Curcio for whom he was an assistant, combining with a need to create his own compositions. Along with developing his career as a composer, as a pianist he has played all over the world: throughout Europe, South and North America, as well as Japan, Australia and New Zealand, and he has collaborated with such artists as Victoria de los Ángeles, María Bayo, Barbara Hendricks, Julia Migenes, Emilio Aragón, Juan Diego Flórez, or Nacho Duato, and under the direction of Christopher Hogwood, Franz Paul Decker, Lawrence Foster, James Loughram, A. Garcia Navarro, Edmon Colomer, Josep Pons, Salvador Mas Conde and Enrique Diemecke, among others. He has been invited to play with orchestras like the Gürzenich Orchester-Kölner Philarmoniker, Sydney Festival Orchestra, Sinfónica de Madrid, Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, Orchestre National de Montpellier, National de Toulouse, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Franz Liszt of Budapest, among others. In his recitals he combines his own works with the great repertoire specially that of the Romantic period and also the Spanish music. There are many recordings of his work, as well as award winning CDs of his interpretations of Albéniz, Turina, Granados, Guinovart (Harmonia Mundi); Rodrigo (EMI); and Symphonic Tangos (DECCA). As a composer he has cultivated creations of many different styles. His first major work was MAR I CEL (1988 and 2004) (Max for the best music in 2006), produced by the theatre group Dagoll Dagom. For its premiere in Germany, in the Opernhaus Halle, he orchestrated the musical in a symphonic version. He has composed other well-known musicals such as Flor de nit (1992) with libretto by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, and GAUDÍ, the musical of Barcelona (2003) and Paradís (2005), both with libretto by Jordi Galceran. Aside from these musicals, Albert Guinovart has always composed for the concert hall, with symphonic works featuring abundantly in his catalogue (among them concerts for piano, flute, clarinet, french horn, percussion…); several cantatas; the operas ATZAR and ALBA ETERNA and the ballet TERRA BAIXA, as well as numerous sonatas for diverse instruments, chamber music and songs. His music has been directed by important conductors like Gian Andrea Noseda, Lawrence Foster, Vassily Petrenko or Philippe Entremont. He has composed a diverse range of soundtracks for cinema and television and has also provided music for six theatre productions directed by Sergi Belbel. He was commissioned to compose the official music for the World Championship of Swimming 2003. Since 2002, he has been professor of Orchestration and Composition in the ESMUC of Barcelona.