Armands Ābols is a

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

n pianist. In 1992 Abols won at 18 Barcelona's

Maria Canals International Music Competition The Maria Canals International Music Competition ( ca, Concurs Internacional de Música Maria Canals Barcelona, ) is a music competition held yearly in the Palau de la Música Catalana, Barcelona. It was founded as a piano competition in 1954, but ...

. Three years later he took part at the XIII Paloma O'Shea Competition, the dean of Spanish piano competitions; he made it to the finals, ranking along the rest of the finalists second to

Enrico Pompili Enrico Pompili (born 1968 in Bolzano) is an Italian pianist. A native of Bolzano, he won several Italian national competitions before being prized at the Dublin International Piano Competition. In 1994 he was second to Viktor Lyadov at the Hamama ...

- the Grand Prize was declared void, a decision Ābols criticised. In 1993 he began a concert career, regularly performing through South America. In the mid-90s he settled in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. Since 2003 he holds a professorship at the conservatory of the

Austral University of Chile Austral University of Chile ( es, Universidad Austral de Chile or UACh) is a Chilean research university based primarily in Valdivia, with a satellite campus in Puerto Montt. Founded on September 7, 1954, it is one of the eight original Chilean Tr ...

References

Semanas Musicales de Frutillar

1973 births Latvian classical pianists Academic staff of the Austral University of Chile Maria Canals International Music Competition prize-winners Living people Latvian emigrants to Chile 21st-century classical pianists Musicians from Valdivia {{Latvia-bio-stub