Josu de Solaun - TOTENTANZ (2024)

Josu De Solaun has been recognized by critics such as Nikolaus Frey (Fuldaer Zeitung) for his "poetic sense of sound, bold artistic vision and brilliant virtuoso skills, always and totally at the service of the works he performs."

On two occasions, he has been awarded the prestigious International Classical Music Awards (ICMA): in 2021, in the chamber music category, and in 2023, as best soloist. In the 2023 edition, the ICMA jury expressed the following about him: «Josu de Solaun is one of the most impressive discoveries of the past decade. Not only is he a technically impressive pianist, but his interpretive imagination also knows no limits. His interpretations ideally reflect de Solaun's ability to engage with the works symbiotically and at the highest energy levels. Free of aesthetic dogmas, the pianist creates cosmos of a solitary nature.

He is also the only Spanish pianist to have won first prizes in the José Iturbi (2006) and George Enescu (2014) international piano competitions, since their foundation in 1980 and 1958 respectively. The Enescu Competition was previously won by pianists Elisabeth Leonskaja (in 1964) and Radu Lupu (in 1967).

In 2019, Klaus Iohannis, President of Romania, appointed him Officer of the Order of Cultural Merit of the Republic of Romania for his artistic work and international promotion of the music of George Enescu – of whom he has recorded his complete works for piano in the NAXOS label – and of Romanian musical culture in general.