Carlos Zaragoza & Kishin Nagai
Biography Carlos Zaragoza & Kishin Nagai
Carlos Zaragoza
Recent highlights include the Performance Prize awarded by the National Institute of Performing Arts and Music in Spain (INAEM), and the release of his first recording project Five Verses with the 4 times Grammy Award nominated label, IBS Classical. This album highlights the relationship between music and poetry through the pairing of saxophone and piano or saxophone and electronics.
Born in Toledo, Spain, Carlos Zaragoza is a saxophonist of extraordinary versatility. His musical expressiveness reflects the richness of his artistic personality, revealing a deep understanding of diverse artistic currents.
He has performed in prestigious festivals and concert halls such as the Salle Cortot in Paris (France), the Auditorium of Zaragoza (Spain), the Théâtre de l'Alliance Française (Paris, France), the Festival France Musique Occitanie Montpellier, and the Festival de Breuillet. As a soloist, he has collaborated with the Lutetia Orchestra, the Symphonic Orchestra of Castilla la Mancha, and the Ensemble Kammart. He is also member of the Gaman Ensemble saxophone quartet, which just recorded an album of Spanish music Carlos has been awarded in numerous international competitions such as 1st prize at the Andorra Sax Fest Competition (2018), 1st prize of honor at the Léopold Bellan International Competition (2020) and 2nd prize at the Adolphe Sax International Competition in Paris (2018). Among all his awards, the first prize for musical interpretation awarded by the National Institute of Arts and Music (INAEM) and the College of Spain in Paris in 2019 stands out.
Committed to contemporary music, Carlos has worked with composers such as Félix Ibarrondo, Luis Naón, Orlando Bass, Vincent David, and Oriol Saladrigues among others. His interest in the development of the saxophone and its repertoire has led him to work with the score publisher Henry Lemoine publishing his own arrangement for solo saxophone of Les Folies d'Espagne by Marin Marais. Since 2018, he serves on the faculty as saxophone teacher at the Conservatory Jean-Baptiste Lully de Puteaux and the Conservatory in Drancy, both in Paris.
Carlos graduated with the highest honors at the Higher Music Conservatory of Aragon in Saragossa, Spain, in the class of Mariano García. He then continued his studies in France at the Conservatory of Music in Versailles, where he completed his first Master’s degree in saxophone, in the class of Vincent David. Afterwards, he finished his second Master’s degree at the National Conservatory of Music in Paris in the class of Claude Delangle, chamber music in the class of David Walter and pedagogy.
Carlos is supported by the Fondation Tarrazi and the Fondation Meyer, and is a Selmer Artist.
