Laura Ballestrino
Pianist and Composer
About Laura
Laura Ballestrino is a Spanish concert pianist and composer born in 2000 (Móstoles, Madrid). She began playing the piano at the early age of 5 and is currently considered one of the great promises of music in Spain. She has been awarded 1st Prize at many prestigious national and international competitions such as the 99th competition Juventudes Musicales de España, the XI International Piano Competition María Herrero, the VII International Piano Competition Gran Klavier and the X International Piano Competition Antón García Abril, as well as the 3rd Prize at the XXII International Piano Competition Compositores de España and special prizes at the XX Soloist Competition Intercentros Melómano and the XXV Ibiza International Piano Competition, among others.
Laura has toured all around Spain with organizations like Juventudes Musicales de España, Artistas Intérpretes o Ejecutantes (AIE) and Fundación Orfeo. Throughout her career, she has performed in some of the most renowned concert halls: Auditorio Nacional de Música, Teatro Monumental, Auditorio Miguel Delibes, Ateneo de Madrid, Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Auditorio de CentroCentro, Teatre Metropol, etc. She has made her debut with Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León and Orquesta Internacional Virtuosos de Madrid and she has performed with conductors like Sebastián Mariné, Mariusz Smolij and Chaowen Ting. Her name has appeared in music festivals such as Piano City Madrid, Diacronías, Kuraia, Fringe Torroella L’Estartit and COMA, among others.
She also develops her career abroad, performing several times at the Solitär of Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg as well as overseas. In 2022 she was invited as a guest artist by the Spanish Embassy in Washington D.C. to meet with Georgia Tech University in Atlanta (GA), where she offered piano masterclasses, lectures, recitals, and a concert as a soloist with the GT Symphony Orchestra, which also premiered her original composition Archaelund: the orchestral suite.
Her career as a classical pianist is combined with her facet as a composer. Laura currently works as the composer and producer of the Original Soundtrack of the videogame Archaelund. She also composes and performs original jazz fusion music for piano, usually being part of the program of her concerts.
Education background
In 2018, she obtained the Extraordinary End-of-Degree Award at the Rodolfo Halffter Conservatory, where she completed her professional studies under María García. She made her debut with the conservatory’s Symphony Orchestra at the age of 15, performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 at Teatro del Bosque with the conducting of Alexandre Schnieper.
In 2022, she graduated from the Madrid Royal Conservatory under the tutelage of Professor Elena Orobio. During her studies at RCSMM, she won the “Jesús de Monasterio” Chamber Music Prize with Dúo Armos, as well as the Soloist Competition, debuting at the Teatro Monumental with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 under the conducting of Sebastián Mariné and the “Mariana Martínez” Classical Orchestra of the RCSMM.
In 2024, she obtained the Yamaha Music Europe Foundation scholarship, held in Real Teatro de Retiro (Madrid). In the same year she completed her master’s degree at Universidad Alfonso X El Sabio with pianist Leonel Morales, her mentor since 2019. Under the guidance of Leonel Morales, she was unanimously awarded the Virtuoso Diploma from Escuela Superior Musical Arts Madrid in 2021. She is currently continuing her studies with Leonel Morales and Leo de María at Escuela Superior de Música Forum Musikae.
Laura has received masterclasses and advice from great pianists such as Galina Eguiazarova, Natalia Trull, Pascal Nemirovsky, and Josep Colom, among others.
