Amarilis Dueñas Castán

December 2020
Sasha Laguna

Born in Valladolid (Spain) in 1998, Amarilis is one of the leading exponents of her generation in the field of historically informed performance. She is noted for her balance between precision, intuition and freedom in her playing; critics also value her mastery of dynamics, agogic, phrasing and ornamentation. She gives concerts all over Europe with cello and viola da gamba as soloist and chamber musician, as well as having an important participation with orchestras such as the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Concerto Köln and B'Rock Orchestra. She has performed at important halls such as Musikverein Wien, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Kölner Philharmonie or Konzerthaus Berlin.

She has been awarded in competitions such as Juventudes Musicales, International Pau Casals Award or, the TAMIS chamber music competition in Saarbrücken and in the chamber music competition "Beethoven in his time" 2021 (Beethoven in seiner Zeit), where she won the individual prize for best performer, as well as the second prize and the special prize for the best Beethoven interpretation by Beethoven Haus Bonn together with Trio Alterna. She also won in 2023 the 2nd, audience and Abel prizes at the International Bach-Abel Viola da Gamba Competition in Köthen.

Within her playing, the lessons received from musicians such as Jordi Savall, Paolo Pandolfo, Bruno Cocset or Kristin von der Goltz can be glimpsed. She studied at the HfMT Köln (Cologne, Germany) with Maria Kliegel and Rainer Zipperling and is currently completing her studies with Robert Smith at the same institution. Amarilis Dueñas' work revolves around historically informed performance, which does not only focus on early music: her latest projects deal with the 19th century, specifically with the works by Schumann, Brahms and Wagner.

She has shared the stage with musicians such as Gottfried von der Goltz, Tobias Koch, and Shunske Sato.

Since November 2023, she plays on a Niccolò Gagliano from 1775, loaned by the Jumpstart Jr. Foundation.

She has worked on numerous recording projects, including her critically acclaimed first solo album Soliloqvies, released in 2020. Take a look at the discography right here: