José María García de Paredes, 1924-1990

Aldo Mata: Madrid, 1973. An international concert performer and a regular guest at different festivals in countries like Brazil, Japan, France and the USA. He earned a PhD from Indiana University Bloomington, and is a lecturer at the Seville Advanced Music Conservatoire and the Katarina Gurska Advanced Centre of Teaching, in Madrid. He also lectures in countries such as Holland, Germany, Portugal, Colombia and Ecuador, and has worked as the co-conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León (OSCyL) and as a chamber music professor in the Musiken Advanced Music Centre in the Basque Country. His training prominently features figures such as Rados, Macedo, Monighetti, Scholes, Tsutsumi and Janos Starker. As a researcher, he has written about Boccherini and the art of portamentos in music – the transition of one sound to another with a higher or deeper pitch. His article “Tras la nota misteriosa del Preludio de la Quinta Suite de Bach” (After the Mysterious Note of the Prelude to Bach’s Cello Suite No.5), in Recos, Year 2, Vol. 4, is referenced in the latest edition of Bärenreiter’s Suites. He has also recorded for Naxos Records, performing pieces by composers that include Leonardo Balada and Bruno Dozza, to mention a few. In his performance on this occasion, he will play a 1889 Gand & Bernardel cello.        

Ángela García de Paredes: Madrid, 1958. After qualifying as an architect at Madrid’s Higher Technical School of Architecture (ETSAM) in 1982, she obtained a PhD in the same field with the thesis La Arquitectura de José María García de Paredes, Ideario de una obra (The Architecture of José María García de Paredes, Ideology of a Work), which received the Extraordinary Prize from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (2015). Since 1990, she has carried out her work at the Paredes Pedrosa Architects Studio, with Ignacio García Pedrosa, receiving together the ar+D Award (1999), the European II and IV, Spain’s National Architecture Award (2007), the Gold Medal International Prize for Sustainable Architecture (2012), the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts (2014), the Eduardo Torroja Award for Engineering and Architecture (2014) and the European Prize for Architectural Heritage Intervention AADIPA (2015). Moreover, she is a professor of Architectural Projects at ETSAM and guest professor at Università IUAV in Venice, as well as a critic and lecturer.

Rafael Moneo Vallés: Tudela (Navarra), 1937. After qualifying as an architect at Madrid’s Higher Technical School of Architecture (ETSAM) in 1961, he carried out his early work as a student with Oíza and Utzon in Rome between 1963 and 1965. He is also a professor at the Higher Technical Schools of Architecture in Madrid and Barcelona, chairman of the Harvard Graduate School of Design and Sert Professor of Architecture at the same school. Furthermore, he designed the building that houses the Museo Nacional de Arte Romano de Mérida, the extension built around the Claustro de los Jerónimos of the Museo del Prado and Kursaal in San Sebastián. In addition to his work as an architect, he is a lecturer and critic. In 2004, he published Theoretical Anxiety and Design Strategies in the Work of Eight Contemporary Architects, which was translated into seven languages, and in 2010 Remarks on 21 Works. His broad-ranging distinctions include the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts (1992), the Pritzker Architecture Prize (1996), the Gold Medal of RIBA (2203), the Prince of Asturias Arts Prize (2012) and Spain’s National Architecture Prize (2015).  

Juan Navarro Baldeweg: Santander, 1939. After qualifying as an architect at Madrid’s Higher Technical School of Architecture (ETSAM) in 1965, he obtained a PhD in the same field in 1969. He was guest artist at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1971 to 1975), and a professor of Architectural Projects at ETSAM in 1977. In the 1990s, he was guest professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Eero Saarinen Professor at Yale, Jean Labatut Professor at Princeton and Kenzo Tange Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Furthermore, his work has received a number of distinctions, including Spain’s National Prize for Plastic Arts (1990), the Heinrich Tessenow Gold Medal (1998), the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts (2007), the Gold Medal of Spain’s Advanced Council of Architects (2008), the Spanish Biennial Award for Architecture (2009 and 2013), the 8^th Ibero-American Award for Architecture (2012), the National Award for Architecture (2014) and the Medal of Honour from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (2014). Since 2003, he has served as an academic at the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts.

Elisa Valero: Ciudad Real, 1971. As an architect, she qualified from the University of Valladolid in 1996 and gained a PhD from the University of Granada. She is a professor of Architectural Projects at the Higher Technical School of Architecture in Granada and director of the research group RNM909 Vivienda eficiente y reciclaje urbano (Efficient Housing and Urban Recycling), and a head researcher of national and regional projects. She is the author of some 200 science articles, and has given talks at conferences and written chapters and articles in science journals, in addition to publishing numerous books, for instance Light in Architecture. The Intangible Material (2004), Dangerous Leisure. An Introduction to the Architecture Project (2006), The Working University of Almería (2008), Dictionary of Light (2008), Elisa Valero. Architecture 1998-2008 and Glossary of Urban Recycling (2014). Moreover, she has received numerous awards and mentions, including the First  “Abitare il Mediterraneo” Prize (3rd edition), a special mention in the arcVision Prize (2016) and the Swiss Architectural Award (2017).