The Albeniz Foundation is a private non-profit organization promoting classical music in Spain through the Queen Sofía College of Music, the Paloma O'Shea International Piano Competition

Paloma O'Shea International Piano Competition

The Paloma O'Shea International Piano Competition is a piano competition taking place in Santander, Spain every three years, organized by the Albéniz Foundation...

, the Isaac Albeniz

Isaac Albéniz

Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual was a Spanish Catalan pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms .-Life:Born in Camprodon, province of Girona, to Ángel Albéniz and his wife Dolors Pascual, Albéniz...

 library and research centre, the International Institute of Chamber Music in Madrid. The foundation is named after the Spanish composer and pianist Isaac Albéniz

Isaac Albéniz

Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual was a Spanish Catalan pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms .-Life:Born in Camprodon, province of Girona, to Ángel Albéniz and his wife Dolors Pascual, Albéniz...

 because he represents the renaissance of Spanish Music at the beginning of the 20th Century in Europe. The foundation is based in Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

 and has a permanent office in Santander

Santander, Cantabria

The port city of Santander is the capital of the autonomous community and historical region of Cantabria situated on the north coast of Spain. Located east of Gijón and west of Bilbao, the city has a population of 183,446 .-History:...

.

The Albeniz Foundation was founded in 1972 by Paloma O'Shea

Paloma O'Shea

Paloma O'Shea Artiñano, 1st Marquise of O'Shea, , is a pianist, patron of the arts, founder and current principal of the Queen Sofía College of Music and founder and president of the Albeniz Foundation....

, who is the current president of the Foundation. The Honorary President is the Infanta Margarita and the Honorary Vicepresident was Alicia de Larrocha

Alicia de Larrocha

Alicia de Larrocha y de la Calle was a Spanish pianist from Catalonia. One of the great piano legends of the 20th century, Reuters called her "the greatest Spanish pianist in history", Time "one of the world's most outstanding pianists" and The Guardian "the leading Spanish pianist of her...

. Plácido Domingo

Plácido Domingo

Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...

, Montserrat Caballé

Montserrat Caballé

Montserrat Caballé is a Spanish operatic soprano. Although she sang a wide variety of roles, she is best known as an exponent of the bel canto repertoire, notably the works of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi....

, Zubin Mehta

Zubin Mehta

Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.-Biography:...

, Joaquín Soriano

Joaquín Soriano

Joaquín Soriano is a Spanish pianist.Trained in Valencia, he was a disciple of Vlado Perlemuter at the Conservatoire National de Paris...

  and several members of the Botín family

Emilio Botin

Emilio Botín-Sanz de Sautuola y García de los Ríos, 1st Marquis of O'Shea, is a Spanish banker. He is the Executive Chairman of Spain's Grupo Santander...

 are members of the board of trustees.

Queen Sofía College of Music

The Queen Sofía College of Music is a private music conservatoire in Madrid.

Isaac Albeniz library and research centre

The centre houses the Isaac Albeniz

Isaac Albéniz

Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual was a Spanish Catalan pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms .-Life:Born in Camprodon, province of Girona, to Ángel Albéniz and his wife Dolors Pascual, Albéniz...

 and Federico Mompou

Federico Mompou

Frederic Mompou i Dencausse was a Catalan Spanish composer and pianist. He is best known for his solo piano music and his songs.-Life:...

 archives and the Artur Rubinstein archive (donated in 1982 by Nela Rubinstein).

Paloma O'Shea International Piano Competition

The Paloma O'Shea International Piano Competition

Paloma O'Shea International Piano Competition

The Paloma O'Shea International Piano Competition is a piano competition taking place in Santander, Spain every three years, organized by the Albéniz Foundation...

, formerly known as Concurso de Piano de Santander, is a major music competition happening in Santander every three years.

Yehudi Menuhin Prize

Created in 1990, the Yehudi Menuhin Prize, is an award given by the Queen Sofía College of Music to recognize and reward artists of excellence, who have contributed a great deal to the teaching of music. It has been given to Alfredo Kraus

Alfredo Kraus

Alfredo Kraus Trujillo was a distinguished Spanish tenor of partly Austrian descent, particularly known for the artistry he brought to opera's bel canto roles...

, Piero Farulli, Sir Colin Davis and Carlo Maria Giulini

Carlo Maria Giulini

Carlo Maria Giulini was an Italian conductor.-Biography:Giulini was born in Barletta, Italy, to a father born in Lombardy and a mother born in Naples; but he was raised in Bolzano, which at the time of his birth was part of Austria...

.