PABLO MÁRQUEZ/ATSUKO TAKANO

PABLO MÁRQUEZ/ATSUKO TAKANO

Pipe Organ / Historical Keyboards

Through the study of the treatises and the technical knowledge of the instruments that have lasted until nowadays, students of the course of historical keyboards (organ, harpsichord and clavichord) will be able to work on the repertoire of the 16th to 18th century from a point of historical view. During the lessons, the main concepts and aspects for keyboard instruments of the Spanish and European Renaissance repertoire will be treated both in a theoretical and practical way: sources and notation; features of the keyboard instruments during this period; tuning systems and temperaments used; the eight “required conditions to play the works with perfection and primacy” of Tomás de Santa María; ornamentation and fingering according to the treaties of the time; conception and realization of the basso continuo, etc. All this will help students to develop their musical personality, converging both the historical criteria and the individual expressiveness of each performer. Similarly, special attention will be paid to the keyboard repertoire composed by women, still largely unknown despite its musical quality.

During these classes, the students will have at their disposal several copies of instruments of the 16th to 18th century, as well as the historical “Turull” organ of the Basilic of Santa María la Mayor de Morella, built in 1719.

Pablo Márquez. Organist of the Cathedral of Valencia and professor of harpsichord at the Conservatory of Music of Castellón, Pablo Márquez Caraballo studied organ, harpsichord, ancient music and composition at the conservatories of Valencia, Toulouse, Amsterdam and The Hague, with professors M Bouvard, J.W. Jansen, P. van Dijk, F. Bonizzoni, P. Ayrton, and Ton Koopman. During these years he has been awarded scholarships from the Valencian Institute of Music and the Huygens Scholarship Program from the Dutch Ministry of Education. He has been the winner of several organ and composition competitions, including the “Buxtehude” International Organ Competition, held in Lübeck (Germany). Likewise, he has offered numerous organ and harpsichord concerts as a soloist and as a member of chamber music and orchestra groups in Europe, the US and Japan, having the opportunity to participate in the most important festivals and to play on numerous historical instruments. In 2012 he formed the duo “Concertante a quattro” with his wife, the Japanese organist Atsuko Takano, with whom he has toured several times in Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany and Japan. In 2018 he founded the Cabanilles Consort, a specialized group of Spanish and European music from the 17th and 18th centuries. In September 2017, he obtained a doctorate in history from the University of Valencia with the defense of his doctoral thesis “History of the organs of the Valencia Cathedral during the 16th-21st centuries. History and evolution”, with the qualification of outstanding “cum laude”. Among his presentations, the one held at Cornell University in New York, USA, on the influence of Valencian organ making on the organic work of Joan Cabanilles stands out. He currently combines teaching and research with an intense international concert activity.

Atsuko Takano trained as a pianist and organist at Ferris University in Yokohama, Japan, completing her studies with the “prix d’excellence” distinction. In 2005, she moved to Germany to continue her studies in organ, clavichord, and harpsichord at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen, studying with H. Vogel, H. Davidsson, B. Röllecke, E. Belloti, and U. Davidsson. In 2009, she furthered her organ studies at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Jacques van Oortmerssen, graduating “cum laude” in her final Master’s examination, which took place on the famous C. Müller organ at St. Bavo’s Church in Haarlem. She has been awarded the “Huygens” scholarship by the Dutch Ministry of Education and has been recognized in various performance competitions, including the International Organ Competition “Arp Schnitger” (Germany) and the “Westfield International Competition” (New York). Takano has given numerous concerts as a soloist and accompanist throughout Europe, the United States, and Japan, making various recordings for national radio in the Netherlands and Germany, and participating in numerous orchestral projects. In 2016, she performed as a soloist in Franz Schmidt’s “The Book of the Seven Seals” with the RTVE Orchestra and Choir. Since then, she has regularly collaborated with these ensembles. In October 2017, she was appointed Music Director and Principal Organist of the Parish of San Nicolás, an internationally renowned church known for its beautiful mural paintings, earning it the name “the Valencian Sistine Chapel.”