Antonio Lagares Abeal - Horn -

Born in Betanzos (Galicia) in 1986, Antonio Lagares began his musical training at the age of eleven at the music school in his home town: his teachers were D. José Pita and Raúl Galán. He then went on to study at the Conservatory of A Coruña (Corunna), where he completed his superior music diploma with honors, specializing in horn and chamber music.

In 2009 he moved to Switzerland to study with Olivier Darbellay at the Haute École de Musique in Lausanne, where he obtained his Master of Arts in Music Performance specializing in orchestra. He was then admitted to Darbellay’s class at the Hochschule für Musik in Lucerne, where he obtained an Advanced Degree in Solo Performance. His final exam took place at the KKL Auditorium, where the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra accompanied him in Richard Strauss’s Second Horn Concerto in E Flat Major. His studies in Switzerland were made possible through a scholarship granted by the JONDE/BBVA Foundation.

Lagares has been a member of young formations such as the Galician Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Spanish National Youth Orchestra (JONDE), Verbier Festival Orchestra and Lucerne Academy. He has garnered a series of First Prizes at events such as the Concours d’Interpretation Musicale in Riddes (Switzerland), the Young Spanish Hornists Competition at Alba de Tormes, the “Sonidos del Arlanza” chamber music competition in Burgos (as a member of the Trio Opus 40) and the Novos Intérpretes competition in Ortigueira (Galicia).

As soloist, Lagares has performed horn concertos by R. Strauss, Haydn, Mozart and Saint­Saëns, as well as the Reinhold Glière horn concerto (with the Galician Youth Symphony Orchestra). Lagares’s current professional engagements have led him to perform in the ranks of formations such as Basel Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Zürich, Festival Strings Lucerne, Camerata Bern, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Bern Symphony Orchestra, Galicia Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris and Spira Mirabilis.