María Dueñas (violinist) facts for kids

María Dueñas Fernández (born December 4, 2002) is a talented Spanish violinist and composer. She is known for her amazing musical skills. In 2021, she won first prize in the Yehudi Menuhin Competition. This is a very important competition for young violinists. Many people think she is one of the most promising musicians of her time. In 2022, she joined Deutsche Grammophon, a famous music company.

Early Life and Learning

María Dueñas was born in 2002 in Granada, Spain. Her family were not professional musicians. However, they always encouraged her love for music. She started going to concerts when she was very young.

She began playing the violin at age seven. A year later, she joined the Ángel Barrios Conservatory in Granada. When she was 11, she won a scholarship. This allowed her to study at the Carl Maria von Weber College of Music in Dresden.

Later, a famous violinist, Vladimir Spivakov, suggested she move to Vienna. There, she studied with Boris Kuschnir. She also enrolled at the University of Music and Dramatic Art in Vienna. She studied at the University of Graz too. María has two sisters who also play music. Her sister Julia plays the violin, and Daniela plays the cello.

Musical Journey

María Dueñas has performed as a solo artist with many orchestras. These include the San Francisco Symphony and the Spanish National Orchestra. In September 2019, the magazine Musical America named her their New Artist of the Month. This magazine is very old and famous for classical music. María also started her own group called the Hamamelis Quartet. This shows her skill in playing chamber music, which is music for small groups.

In 2021, she won first prize at the Getting to Carnegie Hall competition. Each person in this competition played a new piece of music for the first time. Also in 2021, when she was 18, María won the top prize in the Senior Division at the Menuhin Competition. She also won the Audience Prize, which means people watching loved her performance the most. For the final round, she played pieces by famous composers like Lutosławski, Mozart, and Lalo. Winning this award gave her $20,000. She also got to borrow a special Stradivarius violin for two years. In 2023, she won the Luitpold Prize at the Kissinger Sommer festival.

María has also won many other important competitions. These include the 1st Leonid Kogan International Competition for Young Violinists in 2017. She also won the 2nd Zhuhai International Mozart Competition for Young Musicians in 2017. In 2018, she won the 4th Yankelevitch International Violin Competition and the 2nd Vladimir Spivakov International Violin Competition. In 2021, she won the Grand Prize at the 2nd Viktor Tretyakov International Violin Competition.

Her Violins

María Dueñas is supported by the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben. This means she gets to play special violins. She plays a Nicolò Gagliano violin. Since 2022, she has also been able to use the Stradivarius “Camposelice” (made in 1710). This violin is on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation. Before that, from 2019 to 2022, she played the Guarneri del Gesù "Muntz" (made in 1736). This was also on loan from the same foundation.

Musical Inspirations

María Dueñas grew up listening to classical music. She was inspired by recordings of famous violinists. These included Yehudi Menuhin, David Oistrakh, and Jascha Heifetz. She loves their unique sounds. This inspires her to work on finding her own special sound. In an interview, she said she wants people to instantly recognize her playing. She spends a lot of time trying to create her own distinctive sound.

Composing Music

María Dueñas first became interested in composing when she wrote her own cadenza. A cadenza is a special solo part in a concerto. She wrote it for Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 1. She also wrote cadenzas for other Mozart concertos.

Sometimes, María plays the piano. This helped her explore different harmonies in music. This led her to compose a piece called “Farewell” when she was 13. This piece won an award at the Robert Schumann International Piano Competition in 2016. In 2020, her piece was made into a music video. Alexander Houben produced it, and Evgeny Sinaiski played the piano.

She also arranges music for string trios. She plays these with her sisters. She mentioned that there aren't many pieces for two violins and a cello. So, she arranges existing pieces or writes new cello parts. She loves playing music together with her sisters.

Music Albums

María Dueñas has released several albums and singles.

Albums

• Different versions of Beethoven's Violin Concerto from "Beethoven and Beyond" were released as 5 extra albums from May to July 2023. Each had special solo parts (cadenzas) written by other composers. María wrote the cadenzas for the second and third movements in these 5 albums.

Singles and EPs

See also

In Spanish: María Dueñas (violinista) para niños