Song Lab Master Class: Spanish Song with Jorge Robaina

Xavier Montsalvatge | from "Cinco canciones negras"

Cuba dentro de un piano
Canto negro

Emiliana de Zubeldía |  from "Seis melodías populares españolas" 

Berceuse
Guajira

Jesús Guridi | from "Seis canciones castellanas"

Cómo quieres que adivine
Mañanita de San Juan

Fernando Obradors  

Del cabello más sutil
El Vito

Jorge Robaina

Born in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria (Spain), Jorge Robaina received a grant from the Fundación Humboldt and graduated with honors from the National Conservatory of Vienna. He is the Winner of several national and international prizes and competitions such as the Pegasus, the grand Bösendorfer prize in Vienna, the Coleman in Santiago de Compostela and the second prize in Juventudes Musicales in Spain. He was also awarded the prize as the best collaborative pianist in the vocal competition Fundación Jacinto Guerrero two times in a row. He received the prize from Ritmo magazine for his recording of music for piano by Guridi and Padre Donostia.
          Since 1992 he has worked as a professor of Vocal Repertoire at Escuela Superior de Canto de Madrid. As a specialist in the Spanish Repertoire, he has taught regularly in Master Classes organized by Project Canción Española along with director Nan Maro Babakhanian in Granada, Madrid, New York, Dallas, and at UCLA. At present, he is the Vicedirector of ESCM and teaches International Art Song to voice students.
         He has recorded several CDs, both as a solo pianist and with orchestra and different singers. He has devoted much of his work to recover pieces from the Spanish music heritage by composers such as Julio Gómez, Emiliana de Zubeldía, Isaac Albéniz, Tesoros de la música española, etc. He made the premiere recording of the Falcón-Sanabria Concerto for Piano, Nostálgico for piano and orchestra by Carmelo Bernaola and the Concerto for two pianos and orchestra by Angél Martín Pompey with pianist Marta Zabaleta.
         He has performed in Europe and America in concert venues and music festivals such as the International Festival of Music and Dance of Granada, The Music Festival of Canaria, Expo ’92, Festival de Otoño de Madrid, and in performance halls such as the National Auditorium, Madrid, Teatro Campoamor de Oviedo, Gran Teatro de Córdoba, Teatro Monumental de Madrid, Palau de la Música Catalana, Festpielhaus in Salzburgo, Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, Philarmonie in Cologne, Tonhalle in Düsseldorf and Carnegie Hall in New York, As a soloist, he has collaborated with the Royal Philarmonic Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Asturias, Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, Orquesta de RTVE, Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid, Orquesta de Córdoba, Orquesta Nacional de España, the Polish Radio and Television Orchestra, Orquesta de la Región de Murcia, Hungarian Chamber Symphony Orchestra, and the Wiener Mozart Orchester. He has worked with conductors such as Charles Dutoit, Víctor P. Pérez, A. Witt, Odón Alonso, M.H. Silva, R. Saglimbeni, A. Ramírez Iborra, A. Leaper, Max Valdés, Jose Ramón Encinar, and Ros Marbá.