Karla Martínez Rabanal

(Havana, Cuba) Karla Martínez trained at the Instituto Superior de Arte of Cuba, where she was awarded the Gold Diploma. Thanks to scholarships from the Carolina Foundation, the Albéniz Foundation, and MAEC-AECID, she continued her artistic development in Spain. She pursued postgraduate and advanced studies at the Conservatori del Liceu in Barcelona with Tensy Krismant, and completed the Master’s in Musical Performance at the Reina Sofía School of Music with Dimitri Bashkirov and Denis Lossev.
In 2016, Her Majesty Queen Sofía awarded her the diploma as Most Outstanding Student of the Chamber Music Department. She has won prizes in competitions such as María Clara Cullell (Costa Rica), Juventudes Musicales de Vilafranca del Penedés, Piano Series de Primavera (Barcelona), Amadeo Roldán, and Musicalia (Cuba), and has also received recognition in chamber music competitions such as LArjau and UNEAC.
Her artistic career includes performances in Cuba, the Americas, and Europe, both as a soloist and in various chamber ensembles. She has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba, the Sinfónica de Oriente, and the Lyceum Mozartiano Orchestra of Havana, with which she premiered in Cuba in 2025 Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto, Op. 7.
She has taken part in festivals such as L’esprit du piano in Bordeaux, Piano aux Jacobins in Toulouse, Habana Clásica, the Young Pianists Encounter, the UIS Festival in Colombia, and the Santander Encounter of Music and Academy. She is a member of the Boulanger Duo and has collaborated with artists such as Leo Brouwer, Baldur Brönnimann, Ronald Zollman, José Antonio Méndez, and the Ars Longa ensemble.
Her discography includes the CD-DVD 20 Pianos (Cubadisco Grand Prize 2012) and the album Cuba: Contemporary Piano (2022). She currently combines her artistic activity with teaching and is a professor at the Royal Higher Conservatory of Music of Madrid.