José Gallardo

José Gallardo was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1970. At the age of 5, he began to take piano lessons at the Conservatory in Buenos Aires. Later, he continued his studies with Prof. Poldi Mildner at the Department of Music, University of Mainz, Germany, from which he graduated in 1997. During that time, he already discovered his predilection/affectation for chamber music.

He was musically inspired by artists like Menahem Pressler (Trio Beaux Arts, New York), Alfonso Montecino (Bloomington, Indiana), Karl-Heinz Kämmerling (Hanover, Germany), Sergiu Celibidache (Munich, Germany), and Rosalyn Tureck (New York).

José Gallardo received numerous national and international awards, such as the first prize at the Westphalian Music Festival in Hamm, Germany (1990), “Johannes Gutenberg” prize by the University of Mainz, Germany (1991), the first prize at the international Piano Contest in Cantù, Como, Italy (1992), the first prize together with cellist Ms. Sung Hyun-Jun and the prize of the international press jury in Trapani, Italy (1995).

He was invited to numerous musical festivals, such as the Festival of Chamber Music in Lockenhaus, Germany, the Festival of Asiago, Italy, “Music of the World” Festival in Pforzheim, Germany, Cello Festival in Kronberg, Germany, Castle Festival in Zwingenberg, Germany, Days of Culture in Appenau, Germany, “Sandstone and Music” in Dresden, Germany, Ludwigsburg Castle Festival, Germany, and Rheingau Musical Festival, Germany.

In chamber music José Gallardo collaborated with Alberto Lysy, permanent partner of the Israeli percussionist Chen Zimbalista and Linus Roth, Natascha Korsakova, Friedemann Eichhorn, Sung Hyun-Jung, Julius Berger, and Martin Dobner.

He gave concerts in domestic music halls and abroad, amongst these are the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Musikhalle Hamburg, the Kurhaus in Wiesbaden, the Teatro della Pergola Florence and the Wigmore Hall in London. In 2005, several concerts were arranged in New York and Chicago. On the occasion of the 54th anniversary of the Independence Day of the State Israel, he performed at the Philharmony in Berlin together with Chen Zimbalista.

He is actively involved in many master courses with Maxim Vengerov, Siegfried Palm, Bernard greenhouse, and and Steven Isserlis.

From 1998 to 2008, he worked as assistant professor at the Music Department at the Mainz University, Germany. Since 2008 he has been teaching at the Leopold-Mozart Centre at the Augsburg University, Germany.