Rafael Zaldivar
Born in Cuba, Rafael Zaldivar established himself in Quebec in 2005, and has been shining ever since through his talent and involment as a pianist, composer, artistic director and teacher. Continuing a professional career which started in his home country at age 15, he rapidly became known in the Quebec music scene, notably as a Révélation musicale Radio-Canada in 2010-2011, while completing doctoral studies at McGill University in Montreal in 2014. Fully committed to the outreach of his musical research, he now teaches at the Faculty of Music of Université Laval, passing on his original point of view, a vision of a rich musical and culturally diversified form of expression, to the next generations of pianists. His compositions are uniquely virtuosistic, exploring and integrating Afro-Cuban rhythms to classical piano technique, within a very personal musical language with an emphasis on narrative expression.