Steinway Artist and concert pianist, co-founder and director of the label KNS Classical and artistic director of several cycles and festivals of music, Carles Lama has also won a reputation for mentoring a wide number of young talents.
Together with superior studies in piano performance in Spain, Paris and United States and having directed the Conservatory of Music in Girona -from 2006 to 2012 – he studied Music Business, Branding and Digital Marketing and has founded Music Talent Lab and presented workshops and lectures in different institutions in order to guide and enlighten the musicians’ careers.
At the same time, he has taught Master-Classes around the world and has been jury member of many renowned international competitions.
He is member of the acclaimed “Carles & Sofia piano duo” with his wife Sofia Cabruja, with whom they have played around the world, including venues like Carnegie Hall, Palau de la Música Catalana, Sala Verdi or Teatro Solís, among others. They have been praised by public and critics alike as one of the best piano duos in the world. Their discography of more than 10 CDs includes masterworks for four hands and brilliant and demanding orchestral transcriptions, as well as original and exclusive projects created by the duo, including the transcription of the opera “Goyescas” or a “Lieder Project”, with transcriptions for four hands of Brahms, Schumann and Schubert lieder repertoire.
Always committed with social needs, he has a UNICEF award for his humanitarian aid.
In 2012, together with his wife, they founded Concerts4Good, Music on a Mission, a solidarity project.
He has been recognised as a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Foundation and has received the Golden Star for the Professional Excellence, the Golden Medal for the Merit at Work and the European Golden Cross.
“Which are the professors who most influenced you or what do you remember from them and why?
The two professors who have influenced me most are Brazilian pianist Luiz de Moura Castro and Russian pianist Nina Svetlanova. I have studied with them in the United States. From Luiz de Moura I admire his capacity of communication, his impressive and beautiful sound and dramatism and I was in love with Nina’s attention to the style, the colours and the detail.
Which is your philosophy of teaching?
Teaching, in my opinion, has to be inspiring students. The teacher should be a model of inspiration, the student has to feel the teacher’s passion for what he or she does. I think it is good that one person studies with several professors, but when a teacher is an inspiration for their students, they will have the power and energy to find the way to play for themselves. I do not believe in “recipes”. Each student is different and has to find his/her own path. I like the teachers who give the students the right tools to find solutions for themselves and to be independent.
What are the most important achievements in your career?
To me, one of the important achievements of my career is my duo with my wife Sofia Cabruja (piano four hands). We have been playing together since 1987 and we have played in many important halls such as Carnegie Hall, Palau de la Música Catalana, Teatro Solís, Sala Verdi and others. Also, our discography legacy is something that makes me proud.
Another important achievement, in my opinion, is the creation of the label KNS Classical, not only for the freedom that has given us in terms of the choice of the repertoire, but also for having given me the possibility and pleasure of helping other musicians. It is a pleasure and joy, for me, to be able to help other artists build their careers.
Who are your favourite performers?
It is always difficult having to choose, there are and have been so many good musicians in the world…
If I had to choose, though, I would say Artur Rubinstein, Jessye Norman, Alicia de Larrocha, Wilhelm Kempff, Victoria de los Angeles, Leonard Bernstein, Philippe Jaroussky, Maria Tipo and Maria Joao Pires.
If you would have to choose a humanitarian project to sustain, which one would you choose?
I have already supported many humanitarian projects in my life, but at present I think it is urgent to support any project which can bring drinkable water to every corner in the world.
Which 3 CDs would you bring to a deserted island?
Gustav Mahler: Lieder Fahrenden Gesellen, Kindertötenlieder, Rückert . Thomas Hampson and Leonard Bernstein.
Sergei Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto n. 3. Lazar Berman, Claudio Abbado.
Richard Strauss: Vier letzte Lieder. Jessye Norman, Gewandhausorchester, Kurt Masur.”