Cèlia Margalef Boquera - Piano
BIOGRAPHY
Cèlia Margalef Boquera (b.1998) is a Catalan pianist based in London. Cèlia studied at the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu in Barcelona with Tensy Krismant where she received a full “Ferrer-Salat” scholarship for two years. After finishing her undergraduate degree, she got accepted in the class of Professor Mikhail Kazakevich at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London for the Master of Music programme. During her time at the conservatoire, Cèlia has been awarded the Hannah Brooke Prize for Piano, the Cardnell Piano Prize, the Trinity College London Scholarship, the Trinity Laban Scholarship, and the Arthur Haynes Scholarship. Cèlia is currently continuing the Artist Diploma at Trinity Laban with Mikhail Kazakevich and with the support of the Trinity College London Scholarship.
She has received masterclasses and guidance from musicians such as Paul Badura-Skoda, Edith Fischer, Pascal Rogé, Dame Sarah Connolly, Dmitri Alexeev, Akiko Ebi, Wolfram Rieger, John Butt, Murray McLachlan, Leo Brouwer, and Can Çakmur.
Cèlia was the first-prize winner of the 48th “Joves Intèrprets de Piano de Catalunya” piano competition in Vilafranca del Penedès in Spain. She also received the second prize in the 45th edition of the same competition. In 2021, she was awarded the Cardnell Piano Prize at Trinity Laban. The next year, Cèlia took part in the Sheepdrove Piano Competition where she represented the Trinity Laban piano department and was recognized as the best Bach player in the contest by the panel. A few months later, she debuted with the Goldberg Variations in the “Toca’m” Piano Festival in the Reials Col·legis in Tortosa, Spain.
As a soloist, she has also performed in important Spanish concert venues such as the Palau de la Música Catalana, Auditori Pau Casals in El Vendrell, Auditori Josep Carreras in Vila-seca, Jardí dels Tarongers in Barcelona, and Cercle del Liceu. In London, Cèlia has played both as a soloist and in small and large ensembles in iconic venues such as the Wigmore Hall, the Queen’s House, St James’ church Piccadilly, Southwark Cathedral, St Bartholomew the Great, the Polish Hearth Club, Blackheath Halls, and the Chapel of St Peter and St Paul.
Cèlia actively takes part in different performances and projects that involve contrasting music genres and ensembles such as Lied repertoire, chamber music, solo and basso continuo harpsichord-playing, and working with living composers.
In addition, Cèlia combines her studies and performances with teaching and playing the organ at St John on Bethnal Green church in London. She is an accomplished and passionate musician that has been continuously praised for her intellectual, sophisticated, reliable, and very personal style. At the Lillian Ash French Song Competition 2023, Robin Bowman described her playing as “poised throughout, and always concordant with the singer (…) you were unselfconsciously sensitive to a huge range of text-based details (…) you have a penchant for unobtrusively presenting inner lines in a chordal texture without giving the impression that you are trying to teach us something about the song (…) your level of preparation was immaculate, though the playing always seemed spontaneous and “right in the moment” (…) your range of tone-colours is amazing”.
Cèlia has recently been the prize winner of the John Longmire competition at Trinity Laban and is therefore going to represent the London Conservatoire at the 31st Senior Intercollegiate Piano Competition in March 2024 at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. This competition is run by the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe.
