Ecuadorian pianist Andrés Añazco, born 1986, first began to play piano at the age of four and gave his first concert one year later. From 1997-2003 he studied at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatorium in Guayaquil with Reinaldo Cañizares. At the age of eleven, he won first prize at the ‘Ciudad de Huesca’ international piano competition in Spain, becoming the youngest Ecuadorian pianist to win an international competition. After this success, he gave his official debut concert in Ecuador at the age of twelve with the Antonio Vivaldi Chamber Orchestra, and since then he has performed with the most important orchestras in Ecuador.
At the age of 17, he completed his studies in Ecuador and was awarded a scholarship from the Archdiocese of Vienna to take studies with Prof. Oleg Maisenberg and Prof. Avedis Kouyoumdjian at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. He has also received important musical influences through personalities like Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Paul Badura-Skoda, Pavel Giililov, Noel Flores, Elisabeth Leonskaya, Jacques Rouvier, and Matti Raekallio.
Various awards that Andrés has received include the ‘Special Prize for the best interpretation of a Scarlatti Sonata’ at the Tbilisi International Piano Competition in 2009 and the ‘Frederic Chopin Prize’ at the International Summer Academy Prague-Vienna Budapest in 2010, the Prize for the best duo performance at the Academie Lausanne in 2011 and the Joseph Windisch Prize in 2013.
Performing extensively internationally, important recent concerts include performances in Venues such as the Carnegie Hall in New York, Musikverein in Vienna, Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, Switzerland, the great hall of the Conservatoire Lausanne, Switzerland, the Rheingau Musikfestival in Germany. An active chamber musician, Andrés performs regularly with his ensemble Acros Trio and as a chamber music partner of musicians like Gilad Karni, Dora Schwarzberg, Hariolf Schlichtig. Since 2013 Andrés is a member of the renowned European Chamber Music Academy.