Abel Sanchez-Aguilera

Abel Sánchez-Aguilera was born in Madrid. He studied piano at the Royal Conservatory of Music of Madrid under the direction of Fernando Puchol, where he graduated in 1999. Subsequently, he has attended for two years the Piano Interpretation and Performance seminar with Ya-Fei Chuang at the New England Conservatory (Boston, USA) and has participated in masterclasses with Ya-Fei Chuang, Robert Levin, Luiz de Moura Castro, Ilze Graubin, Fernando Puchol and Marisa Montiel. He has given recitals in Spain, France, Austria, Hungary, the United States and Brazil, including performances of Chopin's complete Etudes, Pierre Boulez's Second Sonata, and the premiere of the work «Brevedades» by C. M. González-Portela. He was awarded First Prize and audience award in the 6th Boston International Piano Competition (Boston, June 2011) and more recently was First Prize winner in the international piano competition «Musik der Extraklasse» (Salzburg, August 2011), awarded by the Mozarteum Summer Academy and Universal Edition for the interpretation of contemporary music.

Abel obtained a Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2006. In 2011 he completed his postdoctoral training at Children's Hospital Boston (USA) and recently moved back to Madrid, where he is performing research on blood stem cells and leukemia at the National Cardiovascular Research Center.