Cyril and Elizabeth Challice Fund for Musicians Award 2019
Banff Centre, Canada​

Midlands4Cities AHRC Doctoral Studentship Award 2019-2023
Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK

BCMG: NEXT Scheme 2018-2019
Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne, Switzerland-UK

​RCM Patrons’ Award Holder 2017-2018
Royal College of Music, UK

​High Commendation at the RCM Contemporary Competition 2017
Royal College of Music, UK

​High Commendation at the Bachelor Final Recital 2015
ESMUC, Spain

​High Commendation at the ‘Premis d’honor’ Competition 2011
BRUC, Spain

​Distinction Award Holder 2008-2009
Dolors Mallafrè i Ros, Spain

Press

17 October 2018. Interview at ‘Horizont’, Bulgarian National Radio. Click Here

15 October 2018. Interview by Georgi Mitov-Ghemi, Classic FM Radio Bulgaria. Click Here

The French Reverie – Audio

iTunes: Click Here

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Napster: Click Here

YouTube: Click Here

Performances

Soundcloud: Click Here

Performances

“Bravo! Beautiful! Very dramatic and a tremendous performance. Sounds orchestral, just as I imagined it, and the timing is wonderful all the way. Very poetic. You were born for this kind of piece [Makrokosmos], for your accuracy and the dynamics, especially for the way you handle them.” – George Crumb – Composer.

“A most impressive recital! Some really dynamic and compelling playing. The Escaich was a tour-de-force: you kept up the excitement level in a truly spectacular way.” – Tim Gill – Principal Cello at the London Sinfonietta.

“A strong performance from the start, adhering to all the details, and bringing out the virtuosity of the player and composer!” – Mei Yi Foo – Concert Pianist & Recording Artist.

“An extremely impressive feat of memory and a recital of enormous range. Elements of theatricality were well converged and the artistic command was as convincing in the virtuosic music as it was in the more intimate and spacious music.” – Ian Jones – Deputy Head of Keyboard, Piano Professor & Fellow at the Royal College of Music, London (UK).

“A guest of the composition, theory, and piano department, Ms. Rozada’s performance was part of a two-day residency, including a talk to the school’s composers about mathematics and music the following morning. A formidable pianist, Rozada is also a university-trained mathematician, with a keen ear to discovering patterns in music, and bringing them out in her performance. As part of Rozada’s ambitious tour of schools and venues in the US and Canada, she performed her recital A French Reverie, a program ranging in sweep and style from Messiaen’s early Prelude No. 8 Un reflet dans le vent to a La vehemència del despertar by Joel Järventausta a fascinating work by promising young Finnish composer currently working in London, with whom Rozada has already collaborated on several projects, including Järventausta’s Piano Concerto. In contrast to Rozada’s delicate, almost vocal treatment of the inner voices of the Messiaen’s Prelude, her approach to Philippe Manoury’s Toccata (a US premiere, as several other works on the program), based on fractals, was powerful, incisive, and relentless. One could hear, and visually imagine fractals spinning out endlessly from the constantly repeated Eb (above middle C), which formed the point of origin. Rozada ought out the mournful nuances of Israeli composer Ofer Ben-Amots’ Akëda a work commemorating Holocaust victims, and based on the Jewish prayer ‘El Maleh Rakhamim’. Henri Dutilleux’s scintillating Sonata formed the climax of the program. This Op. 1 was the first work Dutilleux was satisfied to contain in his catalog, though it was written when the composer was already 30 years old. Rich with chords redolent of Messiaen and Poulenc, Rozada’s fierce technique brought out the motoric toccata of the last movement. Thierry Escaich’s highly virtuosic Jeux de doubles, based on a Baroque dance, and Bulgarian composer Vladimir Djambazov’s 33:8, an exploration of Bulgarian themes and rhythms, rounded out Rozada’s thrilling program. I look forward to hearing her future projects of similarly premiering new works and rediscovering older ones.”- Ketty Nez – Associate Professor of Music, Composition and Music Theory, Boston University, Boston (USA).

“This time the concert [Robert Gerhard’s Piano Concerto] had a brilliant soloist, the young pianist Laura Farré Rozada, with good experience in contemporary music.” – Jorge de Persia – La Vanguardia.

“Virtuosity, like the one achieved in the last movement of the Sonata, dominance of colour, such as the one presented in Un reflet dans le vent by Messiaen or the apparent chaotic universe of Manoury’s Toccata, allow us to capture a part of the great interpretative aspects of Laura: impeccable technique, mastery of loudness, a detailed calculation of the balance of dynamics and intensity of volumes, all at the service of carefully selected compositions…Diametrically opposed works of character in which Laura Farré Rozada shows in both an unquestionable pianistic talent.” – Lluís Trullén – Revista Musical Catalana.

“The music runs the full gamut of expression from poignant tenderness to jaw-dropping virtuosity, and how refreshing to find this all evident in composers that are not household names.” – Abe Minzer – Classically Alive Series.

“Laura Farré Rozada exhibited Gerhard’s concert with brilliance and maximum neatness. She was very inspirational, showing the deep knowledge and the great qualities to interpret contemporary music and his concern to publicize the music of the 20th century. The reading that she did at any moment was superficial, making with the piano sonority and timbric chords very suitable for each passage. Always counting on the enthusiastic collaboration of the conductor and orchestral instrumentalists on pages that were very difficult for everyone… A memorable concert: in fact, one of the best we’ve heard recently, and that the audience appreciated with strong applause.” – Roman Galimany – Nits de Clàssics.

“Laura Farré Rozada lives in the present and she shapes the present…she is able to disclose everything with outstanding technique and – literally – playful instinct…has developed a very own, yet respectful handwriting and expression quality for Messiaen’s music…” – Alexander Keuk – Composer, Music Journalist & Author.

“Such delicate playing throughout, crystal clear and expressive and what a good collection of music.” – Richard Langham Smith – Fellow of the Royal College of Music & Chevalier de l’ordre des arts et des lettres.

“What a superb performance! Have you ever said that after a show?… Though I had planned on just taking it all in for an evening of food, wine, good conversation, and music; when Laura Farré Rozada started playing, I could not help but pick up my pocket-sized square journal to take notes…the performance before the intermission truly showed me the power and enlightening effect Laura’s music had on the audience…The audience’s reaction had persons bowing their heads up and down not just in the rhythm; but yes, yes, I understand what you are saying. ‘I feel what you are saying’…At moments, Laura would allow the last stroke of the keys fade away as she looks softly at them; it is as though she is making love with music. Such a gift along with her excellent timing and precision, Laura Farre Rozada is a masterful pianist gem.” – James Lynch Jr. – Writer.

Album: The French Reverie (2018)

“Laura Farré Rozada’s album The French Reverie, on the Albert Moraleda label, could serve as a model for young artists making their recording debuts.” – Phillip Sommerich – Classical Music Magazine.

“An example of what can be done when there is talent and enthusiasm. We listen to the album [The French Reverie] and the expectations are fulfilled in full because it is sounding stimulating music, which conveys enthusiasm and surprise.” – Jordi Martí Fabra – 440 Clàssica Magazine.

“A precious record [The French Reverie] for the selection of contemporary works, excellently interpreted and at the same time very interesting, with an added bonus, that Laura Farré Rozada knows the composers and has been able to develop an interpretation guided by the creators themselves. This gives an extraordinary bonus.” – Joan Vives – ‘Tots els matins del món’, Catalunya Música Radio.

“I have listened to the CD [The French Reverie] by Laura Farré Rozada a couple of times and I am pleased to send you my congratulations. The program is very interesting, original, varied and pleasant, with works by consolidated authors and some novelties, including masterpieces such as the magnificent Sonata by Dutilleux. But above all, I have really liked the interpretations, very personal, expressive and solvent technically, always at the service of the music and with the sound and style needed in each piece. Congratulations, Laura, and for many years!” – Benet Casablancas – Composer & Musicologist.

“…And that’s something you should listen to, because after this album, which Farré called The French Reverie – a “French dream”, you have greatly expanded your musical, even spiritual horizon and left a musical experience behind you, which is not exhausted, but absolutely hungry for more…” – Alexander Keuk – Composer, Music Journalist & Author.

“Enjoying debut CD [The French Reverie] of pianist Laura Farré Rozada: enterprising program, a terrific performance of Dutilleux Sonata.” – Dr Caroline Potter – Award-winning author of books on Satie, Boulanger and Dutilleux.

“Every piece on the CD from The French Reverie is just wonderful music. She is an incredible pianist…It’s just magnificent playing, magnificent music. Every piece on the program is very accessible…It’s really refreshing and not scary to hear contemporary music, at least with this CD.” – Abe Minzer – Classically Alive Series, Interview at Radio KCME, Colorado Springs (USA).

“In truth, I rarely venture outside my comfort zone with piano music, but a debut album [The French Reverie] by the pianist Laura Farre Rozada has intrigued me…It’s a refreshingly varied assortment that shows the directions French composers for the piano have taken after Debussy and Ravel. I was particularly struck by the single-note repetitions of Phillippe Manoury’s Toccata.” – Simon Brackenborough, Classical Music Blogger.

The French Reverie, first album by the pianist Laura Farré Rozada

A musical journey through French music of the 20th and 21st Centuries, featuring works by Messiaen, Dutilleux, Manoury and Escaich.

THE FRENCH DREAM

The French Reverie immerses us in the kaleidoscope of French classical music of the 20th century. The album begins with Jeux de doubles, written by the organist and improviser, Thierry Escaich, from the first bars of the main theme of Gavotte et six doubles by Rameau. The piece is a clear example of harmony between tradition and modernity, in which the original material is manipulated, establishing a succession of variations and a duality between excerpts of baroque phrases and their polymodal alterations. During a frenzied dance in constant evolution, the composer creates two parallel and contrasting realities.

A little more than seventy years before this work was written, Messiaen ―who was still a student― presented his cycle of Preludes for piano, introducing a new sound universe, ―the limited modes of transposition―, which embraced some resources already used by Debussy and Rimski-Kórsakov, and establishing his first milestone. The last prelude, Un Reflet dans le vent, becomes the perfect metaphor to understand the transformation that the music of the 20th century would undergo under the influence of this religious organist and improviser, passionate about rhythm, colour and birdsongs.

The omnipresence in music of the second half of the 20th century of one of the highlighted students of Messiaen, the composer, mathematician and conductor Boulez, is latent in the fractal symmetry that Manoury uses in his Toccata pour piano ―inspired by the techniques used by Webern in Variationen für Klavier Op.27― progressively to deform the Passacaglia’s bass-ostinato until he achieves absolute chaos. Like Escaich, Manoury gives new meaning to tradition, transforming a musical form from the 17th century.

The broken mirror effect created by Manoury in this piece can be used to describe Europe’s moral decadence during World War II, and especially, with the Holocaust. With Akëda, Ben-Amots commemorates the victims of this terrible episode that also had echoes in France. The work is based on the prayer “El Maleh Rakhamim”, one of the two main Jewish liturgies commemorating the deceased. The composer uses the traditional melody “El Maleh” as the leading element to write a free character and improvisatory-like form, exploring the piano register as a medium to describe the ascension of the prayer.

While the country was recovering from the war, and integral serialism becomes the rule ―a movement led by Boulez and Stockhausen―, composers against this new regime, such as Dutilleux, explore other alternatives in the shadows. His Sonate pour piano, the central work of the album, was considered by the composer himself as his first remarkable creation and, unfortunately, one of the few that he wrote for this instrument. The beauty of the Sonata not stems from Dutilleux’s experimentations with the use of memory ―inspired by the famous series of novels À la Recherche du temps perdu by Proust―, but also on the author’s freedom to transform his own musical language, to develop a pictorial and suggestive musical speech.

Once the climax of the album has been achieved with the third movement of the Sonata, the Finnish composer Järventausta will wake us up from this dream with La vehemència del despertar, a commissioned piece that concludes with a toccata section that reminds us of Manoury’s. The inertia that is generated with Järventausta’s music is transformed into a torrent of energy with 33:8 by Vladimir Djambazov, who ―as Escaich had done with the French baroque dance Gavotte―, is inspired by the irregular metre of the Bulgarian folk dance “Krivo Sadovsko” and completes the cyclical character of the album. It is at this precise moment when the great paradox is raised: when does the dream really start and when does it finish?

Thierry Escaich (b.1965) – Jeux de doubles (2001) France

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) – Prelude n.8 “Un reflet dans le vent” (1929) France

Philippe Manoury (b.1952) – Toccata pour piano (1998) France

Ofer Ben-Amots (b.1955) – Akëda (2000) Israel/USA

Henri Dutilleux (1916-2013) – Sonate pour piano (1946-1948) France I. Allegro con moto II. Lied III. Choral et Variations

Joel Järventausta (b.1995) – La vehemència del despertar «for Laura» (2016) Finland

Vladimir Djambazov (b.1954) – 33:8 (1981/2016) Bulgaria

The French Reverie on Spotify: CLICK HERE

SOLO

Vicenç ACUÑA
Preludi: Dedicat cordialment a Frederic Mompou*

Isaac ALBÉNIZ
Malagueña (Rumores de la Caleta) nº6 – Recuerdos de Viaje Op.71
Tango nº2 Op.165 – España

Johann Sebastian BACH
Italian Concerto BWV 971
Partita n.2 BWV 826
Prelude & Fugue n.2 BWV 847
Prelude & Fugue n.3 BWV 848
Prelude & Fugue n.6 BWV 851
Prelude & Fugue n.9 BWV 854
Prelude & Fugue n.16 BWV 861
Prelude & Fugue n.20 BWV 865
Prelude & Fugue n.17 BWV 886
Prelude & Fugue n.22 BWV 891

Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
Piano Sonata n.8 Op.13
Piano Sonata n.9 Op.14
Piano Sonata n.11 Op.22
Piano Sonata n.18 Op.31

Ofer BEN-AMOTS
Akëda* – UK Premiere (London, 2017), Spanish Premiere (Barcelona, 2017), Bulgarian Premiere (Sofia, 2018) & Canadian Premiere (Montreal, 2019)

Pierre BOULEZ
Notation n.2 – Douze notations pour piano

Salvador BROTONS
Nocturne n.1 – Tres nocturns “alla Chopin”

Johannes BRAHMS
Intermezzo n.2 Op.117
Rhapsody n.1 Op.79

Frédéric CHOPIN
Ballade n.3 Op.47
Etude n.1 Op.10
Etude n.4 Op.10
Etude n.5 Op.10
Etude n.9 Op.10
Etude n.2 Op.25
Nocturne in C# m

François COUPERIN
Les barricades mysterieuses
Les fauvettes plaintives
Les cherubins ou l’aimable lazure​

George CRUMB
Makrokosmos Vol.1*

Claude DEBUSSY
Arabesque n.1
Clair de Lune – Suite Bergamasque
Etude “Pour les degrés chromatiques” n.7
Pour le piano
Prelude “La Puerta del Vino” n.3 Book 2

Vladimir DJAMBAZOV
33:8* – Spanish Premiere (Barcelona, 2014), French Premiere (Saint-Savin-Sur-Gartempe, 2015), Canadian Premiere (Montreal, 2019) & USA Premiere (Boston, 2019)

Henri DUTILLEUX
Sonate pour piano

Thierry ESCAICH
Jeux de doubles*- Spanish Premiere (Barcelona, 2017), Bulgarian Premiere (Sofia, 2018), Canadian Premiere (Montreal, 2019) & USA Premiere (Boston, 2019)

Manuel de FALLA
Fantasia “Baetica”

Brian FERNEYHOUGH
Epigrams n.1* & 2*

Michael FINNISSY
Freightrain Bruise* – Collected Shorter Piano Pieces Vol.1
There never was such hard times before* – Collected Shorter Piano Pieces Vol.2​

Dai FUJIKURA
‘Frozen Heat’ Etude* – Spanish Premiere (Vistabella, 2019)

George Frideric HAENDEL
Suite HWV 436​

Josep Maria GUIX
Drizzle Draft

Benjamin HEIM
Gongs* – World Premiere (London, 2017)
Ping Pong Balls* – World Premiere (London, 2017)

Leos JANACEK
Piano Sonata X.1905 “From the Street”

Joel JÄRVENTAUSTA
La vehemència del despertar* – World Premiere (London, 2017), Spanish Premiere (Barcelona, 2017), Bulgarian Premiere (Sofia, 2018), Canadian Premiere (Montreal, 2019) & USA Premiere (Boston, 2019)

Pierre JODLOWSKI
Série Blanche*

David LANG
Cage* – Spanish Premiere (Barcelona, 2019)
Hard Hit* – UK Premiere (London, 2017)

György LIGETI
Etude “Fém” n.8 Book 2
Musica Ricercata n.5, 6 & 7

Franz LISZT
Etude n.3 S.144

Nicole LIZÉE
Hitchcock Études

John LUTHER ADAMS
Among Red Mountains

Philippe MANOURY
Toccata pour piano*- Spanish Premiere (Barcelona, 2017), Bulgarian Premiere (Sofia, 2018), Canadian Premiere (Montreal, 2019) & USA Premiere (Boston, 2019)

Felix MENDELSSOHN
Fantasia Op.28
Songs without words n.5 Op.19, n.1 Op.62 & n.49 without opus

Olivier MESSIAEN
Le traquet rieur – Catalogue d’oiseaux
Prelude “Un reflet dans le vent” n.7

Ignaz MOSCHELES
Etude n.11 Op.70

Moritz MOSZKOWSKI
Etude n.2 Op.72

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART
Piano Sonata n.13 KV.333
Piano Sonata n.14b KV.457
Piano Sonata n.18 KV.576

Sergei RACHMANINOFF
Prelude in C# m
Étude-tableaux “Little Red Riding Hood” n.6 Op.39

Maurice RAVEL
Gaspard de la nuit

Robert SCHUMANN
Piano Sonata n.2 Op.22

Alexander SCRIABIN
Etude n.6 Op.8

Karlheinz STOCKHAUSEN
Klavierstück n.5
Klavierstück n.9

Richard STRAUSS
Piano Sonata Op.5

Anna THORVALDSDÓTTIR
Scape* – UK Premiere (Birmingham, 2019)

CONCERTOS

Robert GERHARD
Concerto for Piano and Strings

Joel JÄRVENTAUSTA
‘The sighing of the winds is softer than ever’ Piano Concerto* – World Premiere (London, 2018)

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART
Piano Concerto n.20 KV.466

Maurice RAVEL
Piano Concerto for the Left Hand

LIED

William BOLCOM
Cabaret Songs Vol. 1

Benjamin BRITTEN
Cabaret Songs

Heitor VILLA-LOBOS
Chansons Brésiliennes

​

CHAMBER & ENSEMBLE MUSIC​

John ADAMS
Relaxed Groove – Road Movies

Lisa ATKINSON
The Likelihood of Forgetting* – World Premiere (Banff, 2019)

Carola BAUCKHOLT
In gewohnter Umgebung III

Johannes BRAHMS
Violin Sonata n.3 Op.108

Layale CHAKER
For Forgetfulness (After M. Darwish)* – World Premiere (Banff, 2019)

George CRUMB
Vox Balaenae

Julius EASTMAN
Gay Guerrilla

Gabriel FAURÉ
Dolly Suite Op.56

Stella FIORENZOLI
A Universe Within* – World Premiere (London, 2017)

Dai FUJIKURA
Time Unlocked* – UK Premiere (Birmingham, 2019)

Georg Friedrich HAAS
Tria Ex Uno

George Frideric HAENDEL
Trio Sonata HWV 391

Lou HARRISON
Gending – Varied Trio

Jonathan HARVEY
Vajra

Rolf HIND
Piano/Dance* (with Jonathan Goddard)

Márton ILLÉS
Drei Aquarelle*

Charles IVES
Set for Theatre Orchestra – Piano Off-Stage

George LEWIS
The Will to Adorn* – Canadian Premiere (Banff, 2019)

Dani LÓPEZ
Not equations but tango situations* – World Premiere (Barcelona, 2012)

Piyawat LOUILARPPRASERT
Tremble II*- World Premiere (London, 2017)

Ákos LUSTYIK
Beauty* – World Premiere (London, 2017)

Witold LUTOSLAWSKI
Paganini Variations for Two Pianos (Piano I)

Philippe MANOURY
Michigan Trio

José MARTÍNEZ
Guajeos* – Canadian Premiere (Banff, 2019)

Miya MASAOKA
Singing River so to Speak* – World Premiere (Banff, 2019)

Martin MATALON
Las Siete Vidas de un Gato

Patrick McGRAW
Whistlers (a Process in the Weather)*- World Premiere (Waterloo ON, 2017)

Bronwen McVEIGH
Intermezzo*– Suite for Two Pianos and Electronics – World Premiere (Waterloo ON, 2017)

Fumiko MIYACHI
Hedge*

Genevieve MURPHY
Your Blue and My Purple*

Astor PIAZZOLLA
Invierno Porteño
Libertango
Milonga del Ángel
Milonga sin palabras
Soledad

Lara POE
Ensueño* – World Premiere (London, 2017)

Sergei RACHMANINOFF
Trio élégiaque n.1

Maurice RAVEL
Ma mère l’oye (Piano I)
La Valse (Piano II)

Nino RUSSELL
Tantrum*

Albert SARDÀ
Kouros*

Rebecca SAUNDERS
Into the Blue*
Stirrings Still I

Alexander SCRIABIN
Fantasia Op.Posthum (Piano I)

Tyshawn SOREY
Auto-schediasms*
For Fred Lerdahl*- Canadian Premiere (Banff, 2019)​

Gavin STEWART
As my Crane Unfolds* – World Premiere (Banff, 2019)

Karlheinz STOCKHAUSEN
Refrain

Andrew TOOVEY
Music for the Painter Jack Smith*

Karim YOUNIS
Microcosmos* – UK Premiere (London, 2017)

​

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC​

Aaron COPLAND
Appalachian Spring

Astor PIAZZOLLA
Sinfonietta

PRESS

Interview with subtitles. Taquilla Inversa, L’Hospitalet TV. Spain.

Report and interview with subtitles. Telenotícies, Canal Blau TV. Spain.

Report and interview with subtitles. Punts de Vista, TVE-La2 (Spanish National Television). Spain.

Report and interview with subtitles. Telenotícies, Canal Blau TV. Spain.

Interview with subtitles. Els Matins, TV3 (Catalan National Television). Spain.

Interview with subtitles. Novetats Discogràfiques, Telenotícies Migdia, TV3 (Catalan National Television). Spain.

Report with subtitles. Telenotícies, Canal Blau TV. Spain.

Report with subtitles. Telenotícies, Canal Blau TV. Spain.

Interview and 2 performances with subtitles. Músics d’aquí, Penedès TV. Spain.

Interview and excerpts of a recital. France 3 (French National Television). France.