BIOGRAPHY

Praised for her “naturalness and versatility” (Scherzo) and for a sound that is “solid and elegant” (Ritmo), and following her appointment to the renowned Cuarteto Casals, Madrid-born violist Cristina Cordero is consolidating an intense chamber-music career on the international music scene.

Cristina began playing the viola at the age of five. After receiving Spain’s National Prize for Professional Artistic Music Studies, she was awarded scholarships by the Albéniz Foundation and the Community of Madrid, and studied at the Reina Sofía School of Music with Diemut Poppen. Thanks to grants from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Juventudes Musicales de Madrid and AIE Artistas, she completed her Bachelor’s degree at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Munich under the guidance of Hariolf Schlichtig, and, later, earned her Master’s degree, once again at the Reina Sofía School of Music, with Nobuko Imai.

Winner of first prizes in national and international competitions, including El Primer Palau 2020, she performs as a soloist in major venues such as the Teatro Real, Palau de la Música Catalana, L’Auditori de Barcelona and the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, collaborating with orchestras including the Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra, the Freixenet Symphony Orchestra and the Andrés Segovia Chamber Orchestra, among others. She has also been invited to festivals such as the Verbier Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Krzyzowa-Music.

Her commitment to cultural outreach is reflected in innovative projects aimed at bringing classical music and the arts to new audiences, such as “Romeo and Juliet: Music and History”, which premiered at the Palau de la Música Catalana in 2021 and has since toured more than 25 venues across Spain and Latin America. Her recording for the ARIA classics label has been widely praised by critics, who described it as “a magnificent recording debut, with impeccable musical and interpretative results” (Scherzo) and “a hybrid format that breaks new ground without sacrificing musical excellence” (Melómano).

Cristina combines her concert career with a strong pedagogical vocation and teaches viola and chamber music at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya, the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole and the Royal Conservatoire The Hague.

August, 2026