Joaquín Achúcarro in Recital at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Born in Bilbao, Spain, Achúcarro won a number of international prizes in Spain, France, Italy and Switzerland during his student days, but it was his victory in England at the Liverpool International Competition, and the rave reviews in the London papers after his debut with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, that marked the beginning of his career. Since then, Achúcarro has had an exceptional, uninterrupted international career that has earned him global recognition. The pieces Joaquin Achúcarro has selected from the works of Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin and Grieg are musical pages that have accompanied him throughout his lengthy international career and that in recent years have gained particular traction within his ample repertoire, which ranges across every period and style. But the six composers share something else besides their romantic sensibility: each of them has explored the sonorous and expressive possibilities of the piano to their furthest reaches.