Almería Duo

Free admission | Donations welcome

Programme

Artist Bio

Maria Linares, piano
Spanish pianist María Linares has performed in consolidated Festivals and venues including CBSO Centre, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Steinway Hall in London and London Festival in the UK; II Iturbi Prize Festival, and Serenates Festival in Spain; Rossini Theatre in Gioia del Colle in Italy; and Vaduz Town Hall in Liechtenstein, among others. In January 2026, she released a CD with the Naxos label, performing a set of pieces by the composer Anton Urspruch. At the age of 12, she performed her first solo piano recital, later followed by playing as a soloist with orchestras such as the Valencian Orchestra, Youth Orchestra of Generalitat Valenciana, Youth Orchestra of Leon and Orchestra of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, in venues such as the Palau de Les Arts, Teatro Principal and Palau de la Música in Valencia, Palau Altea in Alicante, Palau de Congressos in Castellon and the Ciudad de León Auditorium, with conductors Manuel Hernández Silva, Roberto Forés, or Daniel Gil de Tejada.

In addition to being named Music Ambassador for Spain by the Lang Lang Music Foundation, she has been supported by the Munster Trust, Craxton Memorial Trust, The Musicians’ Company, and in 2023 she was given the ‘Myra Hess’ award by HelpMusicians UK. Furthermore, she has been the main prize winner in the most distinguished competitions in her home country, part of them being VIPA 2022, Ciutat de Carlet 2022, XXVI Ruperto Chapí, XXXIV Marisa Montiel or XXVII Jacinto Guerrero. In the
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, she has also received the First Prize in competitions such as the Dennis Matthews, Renna Kellaway, or Beryl Chempin Beethoven Competition.
Meanwhile, she has been selected to participate in several Masterclasses with renowned musicians such as Paul Badura-Skoda, Kirill Gerstein, Cyprien Katsaris, Michel Beroff or Claudio Martínez-Mehner. In addition to this, she has received scholarships from IMS Prussia Cove, Liechtenstein Intensive Weeks, Chetham’s International Piano Summer School, 29e Blonay Semaine Internationale de Piano or WSL Masterclasses. Maria has recently completed an Artist Diploma in the Royal College of Music under a full scholarship while being a Constant Kit and Lambert Junior Fellow, studying with Professors Norma Fischer and Danny Driver. Prior to this, she finished her bachelor’s and master’s Degrees with Distinction at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire under full scholarships with Professor Pascal Nemirovski.

Fabiola Sebastián, cello
Fabiola Sebastián Guijarro was born in Madrid in 2002 and began her musical studies at the age of eight with Eduardo Palao in Alcalá de Henares. She graduated with honours from Madrid Royal Conservatory under the tutelage of Professor Fernando Arias. After completing her Master of Music in Performance with Distinction under Professor Richard Lester, she continued with an Artist Diploma under Professors Melissa Phelps and Richard Harwood, generously supported by the Carne Junior Fellowship and the Alvargonzález Foundation. She has been awarded several prizes, including Second Prize at the Soncello Competition, Second Prize at the Jaime Dobato Benavente Competition and Second Prize at the International Cello Competition Luthiers Clar. Since 2023, she has been a member of the Moment Piano Trio alongside Joan López and Javier Moyà, with whom she has been awarded First Prize at the Jesús de Monasterio Competition and Second Prize at the Arnuero International Chamber Music Competition. Her chamber music playing has been profoundly influenced by Helena Poggio (Quiroga Quartet), as well as the Sacconi Quartet and the Piatti Quartet. As an active chamber musician, she has performed at renowned venues and festivals, including the Ateneo de Madrid, Fundación Juan March, Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Santander International Festival, Sacconi Chamber Music Festival, Delta Chamber Music Festival and Mallorca Chamber Music Festival.

She is a member of JONDE (Spanish National Youth Orchestra), with whom she has performed at the National Auditorium in Madrid, Palau de la Música in Valencia and Auditorio Princesa Leonor in Zaragoza. She has taken part in several RCM orchestral and ensemble projects, working with conductors such as Nicholas Collon, Douglas Boyd and Ben Palmer, as well as Kahchun Wong at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Given her interest in contemporary music, she was selected to perform alongside the Next Ensemble at the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP) to celebrate the anniversary of Pierre Boulez. She has also participated in masterclasses with Alexander Baillie, Alisa Weilerstein, Gary Hoffman, Gregor Horsch, Marc Coppey, Paolo Bonomini, Rafael Rosenfeld, Robert Max and Sun-Won Yang, among others. Since October 2026, she has been a Fellow with Sinfonia Smith Square. She currently plays on a Roger Hansell Stradivarius copy, generously loaned to her by Moray Welsh.

Presented in association with Royal College of Music