Diego Ares ANTONIO SOLER El Diablo Vestido de Fraile

Diego Ares, born in Vigo in 1983, studied piano with Aldona Dvarionaitė and Alis Jurgelionis, and harpsichord with Pilar Cancio (Spain), Richard Egarr (Holland), Jesper Christensen and Jörg-Andreas Bötticher (Switzerland).

As harpsichord soloist, Diego Ares has performed extensively in Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, and Japan.

For his first CD, he recorded Soler’s Fandango and two harpsichord concertos by J. S. Bach with the Island of Menorca Chamber Orchestra conducted by Farran James (Columna Musica, 2006). His two solo recordings for Pan Classics have been praised by audiences and critics: “El Diablo vestido de fraile,” harpsichord music by P. Fr. Antonio Soler, was given the Diapason d’Or and recommended by “The Record Geijutsu”; “Vivi felice,” harpsichord sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, was also awarded the Diapason d’Or and rated exceptional by Scherzo Magazine.

Marta Almajano / José Miguel Moreno LAS MUJERES Y CUERDAS

The album title is that of the final song, Sor’s Las mujeres y cuerdas, with its caveat that both women and strings need ‘tuning’ – but carefully. The cover is adorned with Madrazo’s painting (1853) of the Countess of Vilches (seated in the luxurious surroundings appropriate to her rank), whose demeanour suggests that she may be dreaming of romantic love, or perhaps listening to musical expressions of it. The gentle guitar was at that time popular as an accompanying instrument in the home or salon, incapable of supporting anything vulgar or excessive; the publishing of guitar-accompanied songs was a flourishing trade. The song by Martin y Soler, a composer of opera buffa, was published with the 

option of guitar or keyboard; all the others were composed or arranged by guitarists. Giuliani, the darling of the Viennese salons, exercised his (Italian) gift of melody in responding generously to the market, whilst Sor worked as a singing teacher during his sojourn in London, from which time the songs in this recording (and many others) date.
These graceful and sometimes coquettish songs of the joys, frustrations and pains of love are punctuated by suitably day-dreaming guitar solos. Marta Almajano sings them beguilingly though not without sacrificing consonants to beauty of tone, but the texts are printed in the substantial booklet, as are a number of charming reproductions of paintings. Moreno’s contribution is excellent in all respects. This well-recorded and lavishly produced album should appeal to all who care to share the dreams of the Countess of Vilches, in whatever surroundings they may find themselves.' (John Duarte / Gramophone)

Diego Ares ANTONIO SOLER Harpsichord Sonatas from the Morgan Library

Diego Ares (Vigo 1983) studied piano with Alis Jurgelionis and Aldona Dvarionaitė. He obtained the first prize at Primer Concurso de piano RCN de Vigo when he was only fourteen years old, and also the first prize at the International Piano Contest N. Rubinstein, in Paris, when he was fifteen.

He started studying harpsichord in 1998, in Vigo, with Pilar Cancio. When he was eighteen years old he moved to the Netherlands in order to study at the Royal Conservatoir of Den Haag, and also to Amsterdam to study with Richard Egarr. There he would meet Joel Katzman, from whom he received several advices. In those years he received the second prize in harpsichord playing at Concurso Permanente Juventudes Musicales de España. He moved to Switzerland in 2004 to study at Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and follow his studies with Jörg-Andreas Bötticher and Jesper B. Christensen. There he obtained his harpsichord degree in 2007, with the highest honours and congratulations from the board of professors. Since that year on, he has been studying Continuous with Jesper B. Christensen and at the same time he has been furthering his education with pianist Laszlo Gyimesi.

He has performed many concerts as a soloist in Spain (Festival Extensión de Granada, Festival Internacional de Música y Danza de Santander, Festival de Música Antigua de Barcelona, Festival de Músicas Religiosas y del Mundo de Girona, Ciclo Cinco generaciones de pianistas españoles (+ un clavecinista) at Teatro Villamarta in Jerez, Concerts during the summer courses of Universidad Complutense de Madrid at el Escorial, concerts at Fundación Juan March in Madrid, etc.), France (Festival Cordes Sensibles), Switzerland (together with the Chamber Orchestra of Orquesta Geneve interpreting the harpsichord concerts by Manuel de Falla and Frank Martin at Victoria Hall, etc.), Germany (Opening Concert for Die Dame mit dem Cembalo about Wanda Landowska in Berlín, concerts with the ensemble Madrid-Berlín, etc.), The Netherlands (Utrecht Ancient Music Festival, together with a tour playing Goldberg Variations by J. S. Bach) and Japan (Tokyo Opera City Hall).