The 40 winners of the 2024-2025 Ferrer-Salat - Liceu Conservatory scholarships are revealed

After three exciting days of in-person auditions and the intense deliberations of the jury, the winners of the XV edition of the 2024-2025 Ferrer-Salat – Liceu Conservatory scholarships were revealed this Thursday. It was in an emotional ceremony at the Auditorium of the Conservatory, where Sergi Ferrer-Salat, the chairman of the Ferrer-Salat Music Foundation and the Liceu Conservatory Foundation, expressed “how lucky we are to be able to celebrate the awarding of these scholarships”, while adding that “we must do so without forgetting the turbulent world in which we live in, and being very aware that there are millions of young people who do not have even the slightest possibility of ever experiencing something like this”.

Ferrer-Salat also mentioned “the extraordinary power of music to create social justice”, congratulated the winners, and encouraged them to commit themselves to this cause. “Behind this great opportunity lies a great responsibility. You are lucky to have been born with incredible talent, in an environment that has allowed you to flourish, alongside the extraordinary willpower that you have displayed. That is why we humbly and affectionately ask you to do everything you can to make the most of your talent and the opportunities that have been given to you, and to help build a more sustainable, equitable, and better world through music or any kind of social involvement”.

Minutes before, following the tradition of announcing the jury’s verdict for this first time during this event, Víctor Estapé, Academic Director of the Advanced Music Center of the Liceu Conservatory Foundation, revealed the names of the young recipients of the new 20 scholarships to study a four-year degree in Music, which in this edition have been awarded to: Max Altimira Saura (viola), Álex Armán Vilariño (piano), Lucía Bosch Fernández (oboe), Laia Domènech Llorens (vocals), Lucas Estartús Burell (trumpet), Laia Farrés Colomer (cello), Júlia Giró Barrera (oboe), Naia González Giménez (jazz vocals), Pol López Ruiz (piano), Eva Martínez Pardos (viola), Martina Muñoz Mercadal (French horn), Silvano Olalla Carrillo (drums), Aiala Oroz Mendiola (violin), Mirari Ortiz de Elguea Aldea (violin), Kiril Pando Georgiev (double bass), Pau Reig Llunell (jazz double bass), Alberto Rodríguez Boente (jazz saxophone), Gabriel Serrano Useche (cello) Joan Tous Pascual (saxophone) and Enara Zeberio Erauskin (piano).

The Excellence scholarships for students of the Center that have shown great musical and academic progress during the previous year have been awarded to: Álvaro Abadías Paniagua (piano), Rubén Bueno Guerra (drums), Carlos Coronado Valencia (flamenco guitar), Mar De Antonio Sancho (violin), Natalia Dionis Rodríguez (piano), Maria Espuny Parés (piano), Marta Esteban Ferrera (vocals), Iván García Jiménez (violin), Felipe Andrés González Bustamante (composition), Ada Masó Castro (flute), Martin Mouriz Parra (cello), Julián Mujica García-Miró (jazz piano), Jordi Pérez Nogué (cello), Daniel Podbereski (jazz piano), Sofía Rodríguez Holguera (transverse flute), Israel Román Solís (oboe), Albert Secanell Ruiz (French horn), Jorge Sempere Vicedo (trombone), Ivan Sharapov (piano) and Carlos Varela Hernani (vocals).

The Executive Director of the Liceu Conservatory Foundation, Maria Serrat, underlined “the permanent striving for excellence in the context of equal opportunities that we share with the Ferrer-Salat Music Foundation, which for fifteen years has pushed us to help these young musicians to develop their talent, turning their passion into their profession, aware of the commitment they have with society”.

Serrat explained that 450 students have applied this year for the 20 Excellence scholarships that the Ferrer-Salat Music Foundation has made available to students from second to fourth grade. On the other hand, 144 candidates have applied to the call for the four-year Higher Music Studies scholarships. She also thanked “the sensitivity that the Foundation has shown by increasing the number of scholarships, from the 15 that were planned this year to the 20 that have finally been awarded considering the high level of the candidates”.

Once again, the Ferrer-Salat scholarships reward the effort, commitment, and passion that these young talents have for music, offering the opportunity to develop their musical skills in a top-level institution such as the Advanced Music Center of the Liceu Conservatory, with prestigious teachers and internationally renowned musicians that offer a select program of masterclasses every year.

The winners of the 2024-2025 edition are now part of the list of more than 550 scholarship recipients from the Ferrer-Salat Music Foundation since 2010. Some of them gave their testimony in audiovisual format, explaining “the honor and privilege” of receiving this financial aid that opens the doors “to study in this center with instruments of the highest quality and being able to devote all your time, energy, and effort to your career as a musician”.

The recipients of last year’s scholarships opened the event with a memorable concert, in which they shared their high level as artists and performers with the audience that gathered at the Auditorium and with the 40 new scholarship recipients of the Ferrer-Salat Music Foundation.