Rafael Orozco (pianist)

{{short description|Spanish musician}}

{{other people|Rafael Orozco}}

{{More citations needed|date=August 2007}}

Rafael Orozco Flores (24 January 1946{{spaced ndash}}24 April 1996){{cite news |last1=Bithell |first1=Peter |title=Obituary: Rafael Orozco |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-rafael-orozco-1345286.html |access-date=21 November 2021 |work=The Independent |date=1 May 1996}} was a Spanish classical pianist. Orozco is acclaimed as one of the great Spanish concert pianists.{{cite web |url= http://www.hbdirect.com/album_detail.php?pid=677054 |title= Grandes Pianistas Españoles - Rafael Orozco. |author= H&B Recordings commentary on 2005 re-issue of earlier RTVE Classics recording |quote= The premature death of Rafael Orozco, a pianist who was at the pinnacle of the piano world and the height of his career, was a major blow to the world of classical music. He left a small but stunning legacy of commercial recordings, yet this newly released recording from the RTVE shows him to be an even more supercharged player when before a live audience. |access-date= 2007-08-02 |archive-date= 2020-03-27 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200327191813/http://www.hbdirect.com/album_detail.php?pid=677054 |url-status= dead }}

Rafael Orozco came from a musical family in Córdoba and studied with José Cubiles,{{cite news |url= http://www.diariocordoba.com/noticias/noticia.asp?pkid=245581 |title= Diez Años sin Rafael Orozco (Ten Years without Rafael Orozco) |author= Juan Miguel Moreno Calderón, Director del Conservatorio Superior de Música Rafael Orozco |work= Córdoba (Diario Córdoba) |date= 25 April 2006 }} Alexis Weissenberg{{cite news |url= http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4786400.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110516180316/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4786400.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 16 May 2011 |title= Obituary: Rafael Orozco. |author= Peter Bithell |work= The Independent (abstract on highbeam.com) |date= 2 May 1996 }} and Maria Curcio, the last and favourite pupil of Artur Schnabel.[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/apr/14/obituary-maria-curcio The Guardian, 14 April 2009] His professional career began after he won first prize in the 1966 Leeds International Piano Competition in the UK.

His large repertoire included works by Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Manuel de Falla, Sergei Rachmaninoff{{YouTube|rsN5UkOev7w|"Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No.3, Cadenza (live, Rafael Orozco)"}} and Isaac Albéniz. He gave recitals on five continents and participated as soloistJean-Pierre Thiollet, 88 notes pour piano solo, "Solo nec plus ultra", Neva Editions, 2015, p.51. {{ISBN|978 2 3505 5192 0}}. with the world's great orchestras, including Cleveland, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Berlin, Vienna, Paris, and London. Orozco also participated in music festivals at Osaka, Praga, Berlin, Santander, Edinburgh, Spoleto, and Aldeburgh.

Orozco's playing was used in Ken Russell's 1970 film The Music Lovers, based on the life of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

In 1986, Córdoba awarded Orozco the Gold Medal of the city and the title of Hijo Predilecto (Favourite Son).

Orozco died of AIDS in 1996. The Conservatorio Superior de Música Rafael Orozco de Córdoba is named in his honour.[http://www.csmcordoba.com/ Conservatorio Superior de Música Rafael Orozco.] (Rafael Orozco High Conservatory of Music)