The guitarist, composer and educator Juan Manuel Cañizares (Sabadell, 1966) has been distinguished with the National Music Award from the Ministry of Culture in the modality of interpretation.
The jury highlights the fusion of "diverse stylistic traditions" breaking the barrier "between classical and flamenco" and its dissemination internationally.
With more than 40 years of career dedicated to the flamenco and classical repertoire, as well as teaching composition, he is the first and only flamenco guitarist invited by the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Simon Rattle, with whom he performed the 'Concierto of Aranjuez', by Joaquín Rodrigo.
The award is endowed with 30,000 euros. The modality of composition was received by the Galician Eduardo Soutullo.
Cañizares began his musical studies at the age of ten at the Sabadell Municipal Conservatory, and continued them in Terrassa and Barcelona.
He has collaborated with the world's leading orchestras, including the Staatskapelle Dresden, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Spanish National Orchestra and Choir, the Barcelona and Catalonia National Symphony Orchestra, etc.
His personal collaborations are numerous, among which the relationship with Paco de Lucía, Enrique Morente, Camarón Isla, Juan Manuel Serrat, Alejandro Sanz, John Paul Jones, Peter Gabriel, Mauricio Sotelo and Leo Brouwer and El último de la fila stand out. , with whom he toured in 1989.
His composition catalog includes works for the National Ballet of Spain (BNE) and soundtracks for films such as 'La Lola se va a los Puertos' (with Rocío Jurado and Paco Rabal), Flamenco (1996) and La Jota (2016), by Carlos Saura.
In the recording field, he has collaborated on more than 100 albums and has published 15 of his own, the last one in 2019, focused on the unpublished work of Joquin Rodrigo Aranjuez ma pensée
He has won the National Guitar Award from the Ministry (1982), the Music Award (2008) and the Flamenco Hoy (2000, 2011 and 2013).
