Josu de Solaun - winner of the 2014 George Enescu International Piano Competition

Photo by Norman Vega

The great news is in; but Josu de Solaun does not feel comfortable boosting his ego, publically: “I don’t believe in posting about myself on facebook, but I do believe in my music making,” says the Spanish pianist, now 33, modestly, upon returning from his 1st prize win at the distinguished Enescu competition in September 2014. An important step in a pianist’s career, the competition is known to facilitate putting pianists, as eminent as Radu Lupu (winner of its 1967 competition), on the international performance map. Inaugurated in 1958, the competition takes place every three years and is renowned for its critical stance; in its 2011 installment, it did not reward its stamp of excellence to any pianist. But despite all of the honors, de Solaun stays down to earth and true to himself, immersed in his daily practice routine, relating the instrument’s technical demands to…