With her impressive musical expressiveness and technical perfection, at the age of only 18, María Dueñas has quickly established herself as one of the most sought-after artists of her generation. Since winning the 2021 Menuhin Competition and the Audience Prize, the Spanish violinist has been in demand worldwide as a soloist and chamber musician.
In the 2021/2022 season, María Dueñas will make her debuts with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, Dresdner Philharmonie, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, NHK Symphony Orchestra, as well as at the Grafenegg Festival, the Vienna Konzerthaus and Zankel Hall (Carnegie Hall, New York), among others. She will tour Spain with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen; the BBC selected her as a New Generation Artist 2021–2023. Another highlight will be the world premiere of a new violin concerto by Gabriela Ortíz with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, as part of the orchestra's Pan-American Music Initiative.
The violinist has also performed with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Deutsche Radiophilharmonie, Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Spanish National Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE, National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia and Lucerne Symphony Orchestra under conductors such as Marek Janowski, Manfred Honeck, Vladimir Spivakov, Vassily Sinaisky, Pietari Inkinen, Gustavo Gimeno, Michael Sanderling, Jaime Martín and Dima Slobodeniouk.
María Dueñas is also passionately active as a composer and chamber musician. She has collaborated with Pablo Ferrández, Matthias Goerne, Itamar Golan and Robert Kulek at the Rheingau Music Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schubertiade in Vilabertran, Colmar International Festival, Arts Square Festival St. Petersburg and Verbier Festival. Jordi Cervelló (*1935) dedicated several solo works to her, which María Dueñas premiered in Barcelona, most recently his piece Milstein Caprice.
She has been awarded a number of first prizes in international violin competitions, including most recently the Viktor Tretyakov International Violin Competition (Grand Prix and several special prizes), Getting to Carnegie Competition, Vladimir Spivakov International Competition, Zhuhai Mozart International Competition and Yankelevitch Competition, to name a few. She has also been awarded the Ojo Crítico 2020 of the Spanish Radio and the LOTTO-Förderpreis of the Rheingau Musik Festival 2021.
Born in Granada (Spain), María Dueñas began her musical education at the age of five, first studying at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music in Dresden, before joining the class of acclaimed pedagogue Prof. Boris Kuschnir at the Music and Art Private University of the City of Vienna and the University of Music and Performing Arts of Graz in 2016.
María Dueñas plays on the Niccolò Gagliano violin 17?4, kindly on loan from Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben and on the Guarneri del Gesù “Muntz” 1736, on generous loan from Nippon Music Foundation. Additionally, as the winner of the 2021 Menuhin Competition, she will enjoy a two-year-loan of a Stradivarius violin from the private collection of Jonathan Moulds.