Biography

María Parra is a Spanish pianist and composer who comes from a classical music background and is now known as a creator who fuses tradition with contemporary music.

She graduated with honours from the advanced piano course, obtained a master’s degree in Spanish Music with Alicia de Larrocha at the Marshall Academy in Barcelona, and specialised with Prisca Benoit at the Paris Conservatoire

As a teenager, her classical studies at the conservatories of Tarragona, Vilaseca, and Barcelona with modern composition and improvisation at the Taller de Músicos in Barcelona. She performed in various groups, which allowed her to become familiar with the language of jazz that she currently uses to compose, giving rise to a fusion of sounds that is both eclectic and rooted in classical tradition and contemporary music.

She has five albums and an EP on the market, two as a classical performer, Rêverie (Verso 2014) and Mouvement (Orpheus 2016, presented in Paris in November 2016). Both received rave reviews from the Spanish specialist press, with Rêverie receiving the “Melómano de Oro” award and Mouvement being selected for the Top 10 “Discos para la historia” (Albums for History) by RITMO magazine, on whose cover it appeared in January 2017. She has performed and given concerts recorded on Radio Clásica (RNE).

She has two other albums as a pianist and composer, VISION (Warner Music 2020) and GEA (Warner Music 2022), the latter of which won the 2023 Más Músicas award for “Best classical album”.

María Parra wanted to take her music further, bringing it to a modern trio formation with jazz echoes. The María Parra Trio, led by her and featuring her own compositions, got underway in mid-2021. In this formation, María is accompanied by two of the most relevant figures on the Spanish jazz scene, Miguel Rodrigáñez on double bass and Gonzalo Maestre on drums, crystallising the band’s brilliant career in the best jazz clubs in Madrid and renowned Spanish festivals, with the pianist’s fifth studio album: INTUITION, released independently in May 2024. That same year, she released two albums, including the EP ETHEREAL (Warner Music 2024), an introspective journey through the seasons of the soul in six pieces, which has been listened to several million times on digital platforms.

Her career highlights include the management and direction of two major Catalan festivals. In 2013, she created the Bouquet Festival in Tarragona, and later Vermusic in Reus, two festivals that combined historical heritage, music and vermouth to promote young talent.

She was the artistic director of Mediterraneando, the show starring Carmen Paris and herself on 27 October 2018, which closed the cultural programme of the 18th Mediterranean Games in Tarragona. She also participated in Piano Day 2019 and, on commission, in FIAS 2020 at the Prado Museum.

She has played at various Spanish festivals and cycles as a soloist, in chamber music, orchestra and jazz trio (Ellas Crean, Clásicos en Verano, Piano Day, FIAS, 21Distritos, Miradas al Sur, Autores de teclas of the SGAE Foundation, Madrid Jazz Festival, etc.) and has given concerts in France (Bordeaux, Paris, Chateaux Chantants Festival, Périgord Festival), Austria (Salzburg), Germany (Köln, Düsseldorf, Ensemblia Festival and Neckagemünd), and Italy (Florence, Pianorama Festival).

Furthermore, María Parra was one of the artists selected by AECID (Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development) for its 2020-21 catalog showcasing Spanish creative talent around the world. During this period, her work was given visibility through the VENTANA programme. With the agency, she also participated in the dissemination of Spanish culture around 12 October 2020 with “Miradas al Sur” (Views to the South).

In addition, María was the lead actress in the short film Venus, produced by the ECIR. In this short film, she plays a concert pianist and composer who performs her work “Avalon”.

It is precisely because of the strong pictorial influence of her music, thanks to the influence of her father Alfonso Parra, a renowned Spanish painter, that she is encouraged to enter the world of audiovisual creation. After being selected for the “XIX Workshop on Sound and Music for Film”, organised by the SGAE Foundation, a huge creative world opened up for María in this field.

She has just released TRANSITION, her seventh album, where her musical language expands into new textures, atmospheres, and sonic layers.

A natural transformation born from a constant need to evolve as a creator, always keeping the piano at its center of gravity.