Teresa Berganza

Teresa Berganza was born in Madrid. There she received a thorough musical training at the conservatoire in singing, piano, organ, harmony and conducting. She also belonged to the chamber choir ‘Cantores de Madrid’ - as a child she had already been a member of the chamber choir “Massa Coral de Madrid'.

At the age of 18 she was admitted to the classes of the great singing teacher Lola Rodriguez de Aragon who had been a pupil of Elisabeth Schumann. In 1956, Teresa Berganza won the conservatoire's singing competition and was awarded the “Lucrezia-Arana-Prize”. Even at this early date her preference for German and French songs was apparent.

Her first official concert in the Madrid Atheneum was devoted to Schumann’s “Woman's love and life" (Frauenliebe und Leben). Her stage career began in 1957 at the Aix-en-Provence festival with the part of Dorabella in “Così fan tutte’. In the following year she was invited to the Glyndebourne festival, and since then she performed at all the famous opera houses (the Vienna Staatsoper, the Scala of Milan, the Paris Opera, Covent Garden London, Metropolitan Opera New York, Teatro Colón Buenos Aires), during the last years above all with her remarkable interpretation of ‘Carmen”.

Besides her stage performances, Teresa Berganza has developed a brilliant career as a concert soloist and lieder singer. Thanks to her talent for languages, her repertoire has become many-sided, covering German, French, Italian, Russian, Portuguese lieder as well as Spanish songs of which she is known as the best contemporary interpreter. The artist says about herself: “I am seeking for truth, quality and beauty. My only motives are hard work and constant endeavor to give my best”.

Ricardo Requejo

Ricardo Requejo was born in Irun, Vasconia, Spain, in 1938. He began his musical studies in San Sebastian where he received - at the age of 16 - a first piano award, went on to study in Paris under Vlado Perlemuter at the Conservatoire National de Musique; here too he received a first prize.

He continued with Louis Hiltbrand at the Conservatoire de Genève, where he was unanimously awarded the first "Prix de virtuosité", with distinction in 1965. After other successes in competitions in Spain and Portugal, Ricardo Requejo completed his musical education with Helen Costa, Sándor Végh and Karl Engel. In Hamburg he was assistant to Conrad Hansen.

Since 1974 he lives and teaches in Madrid, but he is also active in San Sebastián and in teaching master courses. In addition to his activities as a soloist in several European countries and to his several recordings, Ricardo Requejo acquired a reputation as a chamber musician, as partner of Christian Ferras, Salvatore Accardo, Ingo Goritzki, Claude Starck and above all to the singer Teresa Berganza on her tour in Europe and Japan. He has acquired renown first of all by his complete interpretation of the "Iberia-Suite" of Isaac Albéniz, the Claves recording of which has been awarded in France the “Diapason d'or”.