Jorge Luis Prats: In Recital
VAI DVD 4414, $29.95

The astonishing Jorge Luis Prats makes his DVD debut in this stunning live concert from the 2007 Miami International Piano Festival. Prats, hitherto known mostly among the piano cognoscenti,is a virtuoso in the grand manner whose technical powers and rare artistic temperament illuminate a vast repertoire. His Miami recital runs the gamut from Bach/Busoni to his Cuban compatriot, Ernesto Lecuona — all delivered with an extraordinary pallet of pianistic color. Bonus: Includes “A Conversation with Jorge Luis Prats” hosted by Frank Cooper. Stereo, Color, 95 min. (plus 60 min. bonus), All regions.

Bach-Liszt: Organ Prelude and Fugue in A minor
Scriabin: Twenty-four Preludes, Op. 11
Cervantes: Danzas Cubanas (10)
Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit • La Valse
Lecuona-Prats: Mazurka • Lecuona: La Comparsa
Cervantes-Prats: Los delirios de Rosita / Los muñecos
Lecuona: Siempre está en mi corazón
Moszkowski: Étincelles
Wagner-Liszt: Liebestod

Live performance recorded February 27, 2007 at the Amaturo Theater, Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Jorge Luis Prats was born on July 3rd, 1956, in Camagüey, Cuba. He graduated from the National Arts College and earned a scholarship at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow where he studied under Rudolf Kerer. He continued his higher piano education at the Paris Conservatory and later on at the Hochschule für Musik und Künstler in Vienna under Paul Badura-Skoda and with Magda Tagliaferro in Paris. He also received master classes from Witold Malcuzynski in Warsaw.

He won the Grand Prix at the prestigious piano competition “Marguerite Long - Jacques Thibaud” together with the special prizes for the best interpretation of the music of Maurice Ravel and André Jolivet along with the Chevillon Bonnard and Mohan awards at the same competition in Paris, 1977. He obtained the Gold Medal at the Katia Popova Festival in Bulgaria and the First Prize of the Amadeo Roldán Piano Competition in Havana, Cuba.

He has been decorated with Cuba’s highest awards granted to national and international personalities of the arts and culture: the “Alejo Carpentier” and “Félix Varela” medals.

Jorge Luis Prats has been invited to take part either as a jury member or the president of numerous international competitions such as the Iberian-American Piano Competition in Havana, the International Piano Competition of Santander, Colombia, the Hilton Head International Piano Competition and Jaén International Piano Competition.

He is regularly a guest professor at prestigious Iberian-American learning institutions such as the National University of Colombia in Bogotá; the National School of Arts in Havana; The Center for Fine Arts, Mexico DF and the Cordoba Conservatory of Music, as well as the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

His concert tours have taken him to every nation in the European continent, as well as North, South and Central America, China, Japan and Korea. He has performed as soloist in London with the Royal Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and in the United States with the EOS Orchestra in New York and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. In Mexico he has performed with the Mexico City Philharmonic and Ofunam Orchestra. In South America he has performed with the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra, the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, and the Municipal Symphony Orchestra of Caracas, and in Europe with the Berlin State Opera Orchestra and the Lamoreaux and Pas de Loup Orchestras.

He has made recordings for Pathé Marconi, Deutsche Grammophon, ASV, IMP, and the Musical Heritage Society. His discography includes music by Beethoven, Chopin, Grieg, Rachmaninoff and Scriabin, as well as a considerable roster of Cuban music.

Mr. Prats is the recipient of support from Patrons of Exceptional Artists. Their support made his debut at the Miami International Piano Festival in 2007, as seen on this DVD, possible.

This video is dedicated to the memory of Anny Rosendorn, a generous supporter of the Miami International Piano Festival.