Cristina
Lucio-Villegas

Pianist and Conductor

Curriculum

Curriculum Vitae

Cristina Lucio-Villegas

Pianist and conductor Cristina Lucio-Villegas is a versatile and charismatic artist, hailed by critics as a virtuoso musician with a profound musical sense and exquisite sensitivity.

Cristina began her musical training as a pianist, studying in Seville with J. A. Coso and María Floristán and at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid with Professor Ana Guijarro, being awarded with a Special Prize on graduation. She continued her studies at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Professor T. Hakkila (Master’s degree in 2008) and at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth in Belgium, with A. R. El Bacha and D. Bashkirov (Artist Diploma in 2011), always obtaining top marks and distinctions. In addition, she has received master classes from prestigious professors such as Almudena Cano, Guillermo González, Ramón Coll, Rita Wagner, Claudio Martínez Mehner, Joaquín Achúcarro, Hortense Cartier-Bresson, Eero Heinonen and Matti Raekallio, among others.

She performs regularly accompanied by orchestras, solo piano recitals, chamber music and lied recitals, as well as concerts as a conductor, in important European venues in Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Finland, and Ukraine, as well as in Indonesia, Oman and Brazil.

She has been accompanied by the Belgian National Orchestra, the Royal Seville Symphony Orchestra, the Bari Province Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, the Spanish National Youth Orchestra and the Getafe City Symphony Orchestra, among others, in venues such as the National Music Auditorium in Madrid, the Zaragoza Auditorium, the León City Auditorium, the Lille Opera, the Sibelius Academy (Helsinki, Finland), the Palais des Beaux Arts (BOZAR) and Flagey Auditorium (Brussels, Belgium), the Santa Isabel Theatre (Recife, Brazil), the Kyiv Philharmonic and the Lviv Philharmonic (Ukraine).

She has received numerous national and international awards, such as the “Rosa Sabater Special Prize” for best performer of Spanish music at the 55th Jaén International Piano Competition (2013) and the Instituto Cervantes Medal and Prize at the Maria Canals International Competition in Barcelona (2008).

She also won the First Prize at the Manuel del Águila Competition (2009), Second Prize at the José Roca Competition (2004), Second Prize and Prize for Spanish Music at the Ciudad de La Línea Competition (2003), and First Prize and Special Prize for Musicality at the Marisa Montiel National Piano Competition (1998), among others. Her performances of Spanish music have been highly praised by critics and audiences.

Between 1999 and 2003, she was the principal pianist at the National Youth Orchestra of Spain (JONDE), with which she participated in important tours throughout Spain and Europe. In 2002, she performed as a soloist accompanied by JONDE, making her debut at the National Music Auditorium in Madrid and the Zaragoza Auditorium, performing works by R. Rodríguez Albert, which she later recorded on CD for the Fundación Autor and Verso labels.
Her love for chamber music is regularly reflected in projects with various groups and soloists. Since 2015, she has been performing with Spanish pianist Laura Sánchez, forming the Duo Scarbo, with which she participates in important festivals and concert series.
Her passion for symphonic repertoire led her to study conducting with Maestro Borja Quintas, making her debut in 2015. She has conducted professional ensembles and orchestras such as the Catholic University of Murcia Symphony Orchestra, the WYD Orchestra and Choir and the Utrecht Conservatory Orchestra. She has received masterclasses from internationally renowned conductors such as Johannes Schlaefli, Bruno Aprea, Vladimir Ponkin, Mark Laycock or Günter Neuhold. She graduated in 2018 with the highest honours.
Since 2022, she has been the artistic and musical director of the Camerata Complutense, a professional string orchestra based in Alcalá de Henares (Spain).

Cristina is also deeply committed to teaching. In 2008, she joined the Community of Madrid’s Music and Performing Arts Teaching Corps through competitive examinations and, from 2020 to 2025, she has taught “Repertoire for instruments with piano accompaniment” at the Royal Conservatory of Music of Madrid.

In 2019, Cristina completed a master’s degree in musical research at the International University of Valencia, receiving a first-class honour for her master’s Thesis “Between Tradition and Avant-Garde: The Language of Manuel Castillo in His Latest Works for Solo Piano” and an Outstanding Award for the best academic record in the Faculty of Humanities.

In 2015, she released her album Perpetuum Castillo, for the IBS Classical label, dedicated to the Sevillian composer Manuel Castillo. In 2024, she released the CD The mark left behind, with Laura Sánchez (Duo Scarbo), featuring the complete works for piano duo by José Luis Turina.

Cristina loves history, reading and languages, and is the mother of three children.