Carlos Piñana

Carlos Piñana Conesa (Cartagena, 1976) holds a degree from the Murcia Superior Conservatory of Music and a Masters Degree in Musical Investigation from Murcia University.  He belongs to a family of great flamenco tradition, he is the grandson of Antonio Piñana (father), patriarch of the “cantes mineros” and his father is the well-known guitarist Antonio Piñana (son).  Carlos lived and breathed flamenco since childhood. His first guitar teacher was his father Antonio Piñana, who contributed from the start to Carlos’ development as a guitarist. 

In 1990 Carlos starts studying Classical Guitar at the Music Conservatory of Cartagena, at the same time exploring Flamenco Guitar, in which he will soon stand out.   Proof of this are the numerous awards he has received, for instance: First Prize and Bordón Minero at the international Festival of the Cantes Mineros (1996), the National Prize of Concert Guitar Ramon Montoya at the Cordoba Flamenco Art Festival (1998), First Prize Sabicas at the Calasparra’s National Festival of Young Flamencos, the Prize Importante’98 awarded by La Opinión de Murcia newspaper. In 2001 the Emma Egea Foundation gave him the Alumbre 2001 Prize in recognition to his dedication and work. 

Carlos has performed in New York, Paris, London, Frankfurt, Munich, Hannover, Stockholm, Dublin, Lausanne, Naples, Caserta, Milan, Hamman, Teheran, Cairo, Alexandria, Tokyo, Fez, Moscow, Casablanca, Mexico, Caen, Oxford, Lisbon, Oporto, Tunis…and also in various Spanish cities: Murcia, Bilbao, Madrid, Jerez, Seville, Avila, Zaragoza, Barcelona, etc. 

He has taken part in several projects with musicians such as: Yungchen Lhamo (Tibet), Fathy Salama (Egypt), Estrella Morente, Juan Manuel Cañizares, Carles Benavent, Javier la Torre, José Antonio, Jorge Pardo, Naseer Shamma (Iraq), Miles Jay (U.S.A.), , Andalusi de Fez (Morocco), Murcia Symphonic Orchestra, Lublin Philharmonic Orchestra (Poland), Beethoven Academy Philharmonic Orchestra, Said Chaibri (Morocco), Francoise Altan (Morocco), Aicha Redouane (Morocco), Ross Daly (Ireland), Ashraf Khan (Pakistan), Aytac Dogan (Turkey), Tommy Smith (Great Britain) among others … 

He has released five CD´s as a soloist : “El Cuidado de Una Esencia” (1996), paying tribute to his grandfather, “Cal-libiri” (1999), “Palosanto" (2001), “Mundos Flamencos” (2003), and “Manos Libres” (2011). He has published a score book “Mi Sonanta” with RGB Arte Visual.  He has written the music for the movie “Desnudos” from the director Juan Manuel Chumilla. 

He has composed, directed and interpreted the music of the shows “Póker Flamenco”, “A tiempo de Fuego”, “A Compás del Poeta”, “Penélope” y “El Celoso Extremeño” for the Ballet Español of Murcia.  He has also composed the music of “Romeo y Julieta” for the Compañía Murciana de Danza. 

Currently Carlos combines his work as a performer with his activity as a professor of Flamenco Guitar at the Music Conservatory of Murcia.  He is also the headmaster of the Escuela de Arte Flamenco of the Fundación Cante de las Minas, and the coordinator of the International Flamenco Guitar competition “Niño Ricardo” and of the International Festival “Guitarras en el Almudí”. 

www.carlospinana.com