Guillermo González

Born in Tenerife, pianist Guillermo González is one of the greatest figures in the Spanish piano scene. He has been a Professor at the High Conservatory of Madrid since 1975. He has given recitals and concerts throughout the world, and has collaborated with internationally renowned orchestras and conductors.

His numerous recordings include those devoted to A. Scriabin, E. Halffter, M. de Falla, A. García Abril, Zulema de la Cruz, Carlos Cruz de Castro, José Luis Turina and Teobaldo Power, for which he received the National Record Award in 1980. In 1998, he published a new version of the Suite Iberia, following I. Albéniz's original texts, in facsimile in the first world edition, plus the urtext edition, and the revised edition. In December 2007, he recorded the fourth volume of Albéniz's complete piano works for the international record label Naxos.

Since 1990, he presides over the Jaén International Piano Competition, which has awarded him the Gold Medal for his work. He is a member of the Royal Academies of Fine Arts of Tenerife, Granada and Cádiz, and Extraordinary and Honorary Professor of the Conservatory of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. He is an honorary member of various cultural bodies, and several music associations and schools are named after him.

In 1994, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the island of Tenerife. He has been named Honorary Citizen of La Laguna and Adoptive Citizen of Garachico -Tenerife-.

In 1991, he was awarded the National Music Award, the highest award given in the Kingdom of Spain in his speciality. The awards he has received in the past few years include: honorary member of the Canary Islands Association in Madrid 1990, Añavingo 1993, Medal of the City of Garachico 1996 and the Musical Performance Award from the CEOE Foundation in 2001.

Since 2005, he directs a project intended to teach and disseminate Spanish music in China, where he published his edition of the Iberia suite; recently, he was invited to be a part of the jury of the China International Piano Competition -Xiamen-, the most important competition of its class in the country.

In 2008, he was selected to represent Spain and the entire Hispanic world in the great concert held on 19 August at the new National Theatre of China, within the framework of the cultural events designed to celebrate the Beijing Olympic Games 2008.

In September of the same year, he was invited by piano professor Zhoukeng to participate in the Master Class Week at the Shanghai Conservatory, amongst a group of internationally renowned professors.

In 2007, during an academic act, the University of Granada awarded him a prize for his decisive contribution to the creation and subsequent development of the university's Chamber Orchestra.

In August 2009, as a part of the memorial acts on the centennial of the death of Isaac Albéniz, he will be awarded the Albéniz Medal for his work devoted to this Spanish composer.