Gabriel Estarellas (born Palma de Mallorca, 1952) is a classical Spanish guitarist, [1] considered to be one of the best performers on his instrument. He began to play the guitar at the age of ten at the La Salle school in Palma. He has been a professor of guitar at the Madrid Royal Conservatory of Music and an honorary professor at the University of St Agustin de Arequipa, Peru.
Estarellas has taken part in important international music festivals, for example in Stresa, Paris, Santander, Pollensa, Alicante, Santiago de Compostela, "Andrés Segovia" in Madrid, Córdoba, Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Texas Music Festival. He has received numerous awards, including the Trujamán Award (2004), a prize at the Viotti International Competition in Vercelli, Italy, first prize at the Ramírez International Guitar Competition in Santiago de Compostela, and first prize in the Francisco Tárrega Contest in Benicassim.
He is one of the greatest exponents of contemporary music on his instrument. He has released more than 200 works, and has recorded 17 albums. He has promoted the works of contemporary composers, with the aim of expanding the classical guitar repertoire, and many of them have dedicated their guitar works to him. He has given recitals in various cities in Europe, Asia and America. In his concerts he regularly performs the works of different authors and styles, thus spreading new repertoires. His clear executions denote a formal logic, capable of bringing the listener closer to the musical essence of the compositions. He has written several compositions of his own, for example four Preludes (2004 and 2019), Ten Studies of Virtuosity (2001-2002), and Theme with Variations and Toccata (2019).
Estarellas has received the support of prominent composers over time, both from Spain and elsewhere. Spanish composers whose works he has performed include Luis de Pablo, Antón García Abril, Claudio Prieto, Valentín Ruiz, Gabriel Fernández Álvez, Xavier Benguerel and Manuel Moreno-Buendía. British composers include Stephen Dodgson, Tom Eastwood and Richard Stoker.
The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the modern steel-string acoustic and electric guitars, both of which use metal strings. Classical guitars derive from instruments such as the lute, the vihuela, the gittern, which evolved into the Renaissance guitar and into the 17th and 18th-century baroque guitar. Today's modern classical guitar was established by the late designs of the 19th-century Spanish luthier, Antonio Torres Jurado.
Andrés Segovia Torres, 1st Marquis of Salobreña, was a Spanish virtuoso classical guitarist. Many professional classical guitarists were either students of Segovia or students of Segovia's students. Segovia's contribution to the modern-romantic repertoire included not only commissions but also his own transcriptions of classical or baroque works. He is remembered for his expressive performances: his wide palette of tone, and his distinctive musical personality, phrasing and style.
In Spain, music has a long history. It has played an important role in the development of Western music, and has greatly influenced Latin American music. Spanish music is often associated with traditional styles such as flamenco and classical guitar. While these forms of music are common, there are many different traditional musical and dance styles across the regions. For example, music from the north-west regions is heavily reliant on bagpipes, the jota is widespread in the centre and north of the country, and flamenco originated in the south. Spanish music played a notable part in the early developments of western classical music, from the 15th through the early 17th century. The breadth of musical innovation can be seen in composers like Tomás Luis de Victoria, styles like the zarzuela of Spanish opera, the ballet of Manuel de Falla, and the classical guitar music of Francisco Tárrega. Nowadays, in Spain as elsewhere, the different styles of commercial popular music are dominant.
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