Isidro Albarreal Delgado
Isidro Albarreal is a passionate musician, specialising in early music and historical performance of the violin and viola, currently based in The Netherlands.
Born in Sevilla (Spain), he was accepted in 2012 into the Conservatorium van Amsterdam to complete his Bachelor degree in Baroque violin, studying with Sophie Gent, Shunske Sato and Cornelis Koelmans. He also studied chamber music with Ton Koopman, Alfredo Bernardini, Pieter van Heyghen, Jed Wentz, Menno van Delft and Eduardo López Banzo; baroque viola with Jane Rogers; and orchestral playing with Sigiswald Kuijken, Giulio Prandi, Paul Dombrecht, Robert Levin and Richard Egarr.
Moreover, he participated in masterclasses with Amandine Beyer, Rachel Podger, Lucy van Dael, Bojan Cicic, as well as teachers from the Juilliard School of New York, Robert Mealy and Cynthia Roberts.
In 2017 he won a scholarship from the Asociación de Amigos de la Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla, which led him to work with Kristin von der Goltz, Rodolfo Richter, Jacques Ogg and Eduardo López Banzo.
Isidro currently plays with such baroque ensembles as Concerto Köln, Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla, Bremer Barockorchester, La Chimera - Eduardo Egüez, Florilegium Musicum, Bach Orchestra of the Netherlands and Amsterdam Corelli Collective, awarding him the opportunity to work with conductors like Enrico Onofri and Riccardo Minasi. With them he has performed in prestigious concert halls such as the Muziekgebouw aan’t Ij, Concertgebouw van Amsterdam, the Dutch National Opera & Ballet, Teatro de la Maestranza and the chapel of the Royal Palace in Madrid, as well as in festivals such as the Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, MABrugge Festival, Utrecht Oude Muziek Festival, Festival Internacional de Arte Sacro of Madrid, Festival de Música Antigua de Sevilla, Festival d'Ambronay, Internationale Händel-Festspiele Göttingen and Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik.
To this day, Isidro has given concerts in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Austria, Spain, Slovenia and Japan. His interest about composition started almost from the beginning of his musical formation. He studied counterpoint with Alonso Salas and baroque harmony with Johan Hofmann, and he learnt the most by reading and analysing music from the masters of the past. Several projects led him to learn different compositional techniques and increased his interest in this field, which concluded in winning the 'Viktor
Kalabis Prize' & 'Prima la musica! Prize' in the 3rd edition of Ruzickova Composition Competition 2022 with his piece ''El Gorrión''.
Memories of Malacuesta
''Memories of Malacuesta'' is a Violin Concerto with string orchestra in E minor, that depicts some stories
of my childhood and adolescence next to my dad at our estate called Malacuesta (Bad Slope). Given that
name due to the terrible uphill road that needs to be driven to get to the house, it is a wonderful and wild
place in the middle of nowhere that has given us a lot of great moments and adventures.
I structured the concerto in three movements, as in a typical baroque concerto; Allegro - Adagio - Allegro.
The first movement ''Storms at the Countryside'' it ́s a collection of certain recurring anecdotes that were
part of the idiosyncrasy of the place, such as getting trapped at the house because the river that crosses is
flooded from the rain, having to repair the water pump that is full of wasps, climbing the hill up and down
and falling, or the beautiful nights sleeping on the roof of the house, listening to owls, crickets, and
nightingales.
''Sunsets and evenings'' is the second movement of this concerto, where I tried to set an atmosphere that
conveys the feeling of watching the sun leaving us, sitting at a bench that we placed specially for this
purpose. After the sunset, we used to sit in front of the chimney, and that moment always had a very
special vibe. I draw that specific feeling by writing a calm melody for the solo violin, a pedal point for the
violas, and a mixed effect of spiccato / col legno for the violins, imitating the crackling of the fire.
The third movement ''The hunt of the wild boars'' is written more narratively. Using a fugue form, I
painted the image of a day chasing and hunting a plague of boars that snuck into our estate destroying
everything. The theme of the fugue is inspired by the grunts of those animals, and the story covers from
the start of the hunting to the death of the boar, passing by ambushes and the baby boars escaping and
seeking shelter.
This concerto is written using a Baroque language in terms of style.
I am very much fond of contrapuntal texture because I love the magic that comes out of having
independent lines of music that work perfectly together. I am also aware of trying to write interesting
parts for every section of instruments, or at least trying to involve all the voices in the experience of the
performance. As a string player, I appreciate when a composition is written in a way in which every part
has something to say.
This music is fully dedicated to my father Jesús Albarreal, to whom I have so much to thank.