Profile
©Paz Fernández
Josep COLOM(Spain)
Jury Member, Piano Section
Born in Barcelona in 1947, Josep Colom first studied under Maestro Joan Guinjoan at the Municipal Conservatory of Barcelona before continuing education at the École Normale de Musique in Paris.
He has won several international competitions including the Premio Jaén in 1977 and Santander in 1978 and was awarded the National Music Award by Spain’s Ministry of Culture in 1998. Judging experience includes the 1980 Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw and multiple Paloma O’Shea International Piano Competitions.
Josep Colom routinely performs with renowned conductors and orchestras from Spain, in addition to performing chamber music at recitals, festivals, and music halls.
Continually active around the globe, particularly in France, he built a discography filled with recordings of works from Brahms, Franck, Blasco de Nebra, Mompou, and Falla for the “MANDALA” label. Recent “RTVE” label releases are a DVD recording of Prokofiev’s Concerto No.3 and a CD with live recordings of Chopin, Debussy, and Ravel pieces from the “Radio Clásica” archive in the “Grandes pianistas españoles” series.
Recent recordings recreate the spirit of experiencing a concert first-hand, uniting Josep Colom’s latest aesthetic proposals. He has released 6 CDs through the “Eudora” label. “Dialogue” and “Confluences” respectively cover Mozart and Chopin works, and Bach and Chopin works performed alternately with effort made to bring out their true nature, demystifying the stylistic classifications that pigeonhole composers as “classical,” “baroque,” or “romantic.” Additional releases feature 3 Beethoven late period sonatas performed alternately with Bagatelles, 2 contrasting B minor sonatas from Chopin and Liszt, a new recording of Mompou’s “Música Callada,” and a collaboration CD with clarinetist Ona Cardona covering Brahms, Schumann, and Clara Wieck.
To Josep Colom, the classroom is a valuable place, where interacting with young musicians reignites his enthusiasm towards rediscovering a great repertoire. Aside from master classes, he taught “Aula de Música” seminars since 1990 at the University of Alcalá de Henares. Among many academic courses, he has also cooperated with the Conservatory of Music of Zaragoza and Musikeon (Valencia). In September 2012, he stepped on to a new pedagogical stage at the Liceu Conservatory (Barcelona).
Creating music is a great privilege to Josep Colom and he remains thankful to all who attend his concerts and share in what he feels is a daily miracle.