Leonel Morales

He is a professor at the Sommerakademie in Salzburg, Alfonso X el Sabio University, and the Morales Herrero Piano Elite Academy. He is the exclusive artist of Yangtze River Piano (China), the artistic director and founder of the María Herrero International Piano Competition (Granada) and the International Piano Competition Composers of Spain (WFIMC) in Madrid, as well as the Granada music festival “Leonel Morales and Friends.” Since 2024, he has been the exclusive representative of the prestigious German piano brand Grotian-Steinweg in Spain.

Leonel Morales has been an exclusive artist with the concert agency MUSIESPAÑA for more than 25 years. He is also a member of the Fine Arts Academy of Santa Isabel de Hungría.

Born in Cuba, he became a Spanish citizen and has been a resident of Spain since 1991. He studied at the University of Havana under the tutelage of master Frank Fernández, a student of Víctor Merzhanov, whose school follows the deep roots of the great traditional Russian school. He took classes in Weimar with master Jacov Latainer and also worked with Mihail Voskresensky during his time in Cuba as a selected student. For two years, he was an assistant in the class of the late great master Aquiles Delle Vigne at the Sommerakademie in Salzburg.

Leonel Morales arrived in Spain at the age of 25, and between the ages of 26 and 28, he won first prizes in several international competitions such as the Fundación Guerrero International Piano Competition, the Citat de Manresa, the Teresa Carreño, the Jaén International Piano Competition, along with special prizes for Best Performance of Contemporary Music and the “Rosa Sabater” Award for Best Performance of Spanish Music, Second Prize at the Santa Cecilia International Piano Competition in Oporto, a Prize with Distinction at the Aosta International Piano Competition, the Sommerakademie Award at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and the William Kapell Award, among others.

At the age of 28, he stopped competing as his career was fully consolidated, performing with all the major orchestras in Spain, including a tour of the complete works for piano and orchestra by Rachmaninov, including the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.

Since 2018, he has been the exclusive artist in China for Yangtze River Pianos, touring annually in the country’s top venues such as Wuhan Quintai Concert Hall, Harbin Concert Hall, Shenzhen Grand Theater, Central Conservatory of Music Beijing, Yichang Grand Theatre, X’ian Concert Hall, also giving masterclasses and conferences.

His two-hour masterclass during the 2024 Shenzhen International Piano and Orchestra Competition reached a broadcast of over 10,000 listeners, making it the most listened-to streaming masterclass in the history of Parsons Music’s online events.

In October 2008, he received the prestigious “Tasto D’Argento 2008” award (Alexandria, Italy) for his outstanding international career. He showcased his exceptional talent in concerts across the United States with the Spanish National Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Mexico, throughout Germany with the Valencia Symphony Orchestra, and the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra.

“His incredible concert of Tchaikovsky created an instantaneous ovation. Hero of the day.”

(Palm Beach Post)

“The Spanish pianist of Cuban origin was the hero of the night, with his enormous technique achieving magic in every note with ease. He played the piano with elegance, discipline, and intelligence.”

(Die Rheinpfalz)

He has been invited to serve as a juror in prestigious international piano competitions such as the China Shenzhen International Piano and Orchestra Competition (China), Cleveland Competition, Ettore Pozzoli, Scriabin (Grosseto), Lyon, Valsecia, Cesar Franck, Pancho Vladigerov, UNISA (South Africa), Santa Cecilia (Oporto), Shenzhen, Clara Schumann, Rio de Janeiro, Epinal, Cantù, Rina Sala Galo (Monza), Russian Composer (San Remo), Ciudad de Ferrol, J. Brahms (Vienna), Seiler Piano Open Competition Tsingtao, and International Youth Piano Competition (Shanghai), among others.

Leonel Morales’ classes are considered some of the most prestigious and highest-level in Spain. His students win more than 50 national and international awards each year, including competitions like José Iturbi, UNISA, Hummel, Epinal, Paderewski, Sommerakademie Salzburg, Lyon, Santa Cecilia (Oporto), CSIPCC Shenzhen, and Ferrol.

Morales gives masterclasses worldwide in places such as the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Korea, Italy, Mexico, France, Belgium, China, Japan, Poland, Croatia, the USA, Germany, and France, among others.

In his interpretation of Beethoven’s 32 sonatas, Morales has been called by critics one of the best interpreters of this genius composer.

During his tours in the USA with the Spanish National Symphony Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of the State of Mexico, organized by Columbia Artists, he had the opportunity to perform in the most important venues in North America, including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, David Geffen Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Tuckerman Hall, receiving great success from both critics and audiences.

“Extraordinary interpretation and power”

(WASHINGTON POST)

“Undoubtedly, Morales is a pianist of great virtuosity, confidence, efficiency, but with great naturalness and without grand gestures.”

(CLASSICAL MUSIC REVIEW)

Once again, in 2010, the critic referred to him as “the hero” during his concert tour in Germany, performing in venues such as the “Beethovensaal” in Stuttgart and the “BASF-Feierabendhaus” in Ludwigshafen with the Valencia Symphony Orchestra, playing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

“The Spanish pianist with Cuban origins was the hero of the night. With his enormous technique, he achieved magic in every note with ease. He played the piano with elegance, discipline, and intelligence. After the frantic applause, Morales offered three pieces not in the program: “Malagueña” by Ernesto Lecuona, “Danza” by Ignacio Cervantes, and one waltz by Chopin, in which he again showed his brilliant technique.”

(DIE RHEINPFALZ)

At Carnegie Hall in New York, it was said of him:

“Impressively clean and well-structured Sonata Op. 101 by Beethoven” His marvelous Petrushka made the audience tremble.”

(Harris Goldsmith, NEW YORK CONCERT REVIEW)

More than 60 pianists from around the world attend his International Masterclass and Piano Festival in Granada Leonel Morales & Friends, held every July.

Morales’ skill and virtuosity have frequently been showcased in concerts with prestigious orchestras including the Spanish National Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Radio and TV Orchestra of Spain, Galicia Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, Málaga Philharmonic Orchestra, Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, Murcia Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Portuguese National Orchestra, Oporto Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt-Oder Orchestra, RAI Turin Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of Adana, Istanbul Symphony Orchestra, Ankara Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Virtuosos, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Ljubljana Symphony Orchestra, Denver Philharmonic, Yakima Symphony Orchestra, Toruń Symphony Orchestra, Zemtrun Orchestra (Dortmund), Burgos Symphony Orchestra, Ohio Symphony Orchestra, Miami Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Symphony Orchestra, where he has demonstrated his exceptional abilities as a soloist, conducting under the direction of esteemed conductors such as: Frühbeck de Burgos, Cristóbal Halffter, Víctor Pablo González, Juanjo Mena, Pedro Halffter, Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez, Manuel Galduf, Enrique García Asensio, Antoni Ros Marbá, Max Valdés, Tania León, Michael Jurowski, George Pehlivanian, Alexander Rahbari, Marc Tardue, Jacques Mercier, Adrian Leaper, Ovidiu Balan, Franz Krager, John Bae, Emin Güven Yasliçam, Jiri Malat, Enrique Bátiz, Marzio Conti, Yaron Traub, Pavel Baleff, Joel Revzen, En Schao, Antoni Witt, Mariusz Smolij, Lawrence Golan, Andrés Salado, and many others.

He currently shares his teaching with his son Leo de María, an international competition winner, as an assistant in his chair at the University Alfonso X el Sabio. He combines this with his intense concert career, performing an average of 40 concerts per year.