Rafael Gutiérrez-Vélez began playing the piano at the age of five. At nine he was admitted to the Jose Jacinto Cuevas Music School to study with Alberto Alvarez Iñiguez, who up to this date continues to be his mentor. In the UK he studied at the Purcell School of Music with Tatiana Sarkissova and Ilana Davies. He is a graduate of the Moscow State Conservatory, studying with Elena Richter and has recently completed his Master’s degree at Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart with Professor Peter Nagy.
Rafael has played concerts at Steinway Hall, St Martin-in-the-Fields and the Barbican Centre in London, Rachmaninoff Concert Hall and Moscow International House of Music, as well as in Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Mexico, Russia and Ukraine. He has appeared as a soloist with the Yaroslavl Philharmonic Orchestra and the Donetsk Philharmonic, taking part in festivals such as Crimea Music Festival and Prokofiev Spring Festival.
His passion for conducting, which he studied in Stuttgart and Milan, has led him to found and conduct the ORJUMID orchestra in Mérida.
In 2022 Rafael was a Deutschland-stipendium holder and the recipient of the Maria Rosa Oubiña award for outstanding Mexican pianists.
The masterclass is free to attend but donations to a retiring collection will be gratefully received.