Cristina Cordero Beltrán

Born in Madrid, Spain, in 1998. From 2020 to 2023, she studied at the Reina Sofía School of Music’s Fundación BBVA Viola Chair with professor Nobuko Imai. Her Majesty Queen Sofía handed her the Diploma to the most outstanding student of her chair in the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 academic years.

From 2014 to 2017 she studied at the Reina Sofía School of Music’s Fundación BBVA Viola Chair with professor Diemut Poppen, where Her Majesty Queen Sofía handed her the Diploma to the most outstanding student of her chair. Between 2017 and 2020 she completed her Bachelor’s Degree at Munich’s Hochschule für Musik und Theater (Germany) with professor Hariolf Schlichtig.

She has also attended masterclasses of Gerard Caussé, Lars Anders Tomter, Cuarteto Quiroga, Eberhard Feltz, Jonathan Brown, Nils Mönkemeyer, Antoine Tamestit, Tabea Zimmermann, Timothy Ridout, Josep Puchades, and Krzysztof Chorzelski (string ensembles).

Cristina is a top prizewinner of several international competitions, including the El Primer Palau Competition (first prize, 2020), the 6th Viola Competition in Vigo (first prize, 2016), the 1st Competition of the Spanish Viola Association (first prize, 2013), and the 2nd OFMAN International String Competition (second prize, 2015).

She has performed as soloist together with orchestras such as the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, the Desierto de Coahuila Philharmonic Orchestra, the Castilla la Mancha Philharmonic Orchestra, the Andrés Segovia Chamber Orchestra, the Cuenca Symphony Orchestra and the Freixenet Symphony Orchestra of the Reina Sofía School, in some of the most important venues in Spain such as Teatro Real, Barcelona's Palau de la Música, Oviedo’s Príncipe Felipe Auditorium, or Madrid’s National Auditorium.

Combining her university studies and solo concerts, Cristina has developed a great passion for chamber music: she is a member of the Stoneshield Quartet under the guidance of professor Heime Müller (Artemis Quartet) and, as part of the Tedesco Quintet, she won the first prize at the Gerhard Vogt International Chamber Music Competition in 2019, Germany. She has performed in several festivals around Europe such as Eggenfelden Klassisch, Kammermusik Festival Hohenstaufen, Ticino Musica and Schloss Elmau Festival. Moreover, she premiered various pieces composed for a viola solo at the 2020 Impuls Festival Enter the void.

Her creative mind has led her to seek new ways to expand the repertoire of her instrument and to offer original proposals to modern audiences, participating in "Romeo and Juliet: Music and History": a new project in which pianist Juan Barahona and the violist combine the music of S. Prokofiev's ballet with Shakespeare's unforgettable story, bringing together narration and performance in a very special format.

As a student of the School, she performed with the Freixenet Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado, David Afkham and, as a soloist, by Juanjo Mena, within the Banco Sabadell Young Talents programme, and within World Heritage Cities series (Mérida) and the AIE Clásicos en Ruta (Madrid and Albacete). She was also part of the Enagás Schumann, the Stoneshield and the Asisa Óscar Esplá quartets and the Sibelius Duo.

Since 2022, Cristina is viola professor at the Aragón Conservatory.