"...All this happened with dreamy certainty and expressiveness..."
– Westfälische Nachrichten
Karl Figueroa (*1998 in Concepción, Chile) is a particularly versatile artist. His repertoire ranges from baroque to Latin American folklore and jazz improvisation.
Figueroa began his musical education at the age of two, playing the piano. The cello was added at the age of eight. Since 2016 he has been studying in the class of Prof. Matias Oliveira Pinto at the Musikhochschule Münster. The young cellist has participated in masterclasses with professors such as Karine Georgian, Daniel Müller- Schott, Arthur Hornig, Prof. Marcio Carneiro and took part in the “Music Concilium” masterclass in Vienna. Between 2009 and 2016, Figueroa won three first prizes at the national "Young Talents" competition in Chile. In the summer of 2021 he won first prize at the "International Primuz Strings Competition" in Poland. The young cellist was also awarded first prize at the internal university competition "WDR Campus Konzerte", which included a recording with WDR3.
Karl Figueroa is one of the 23 young instrumentalists invited by the Kronberg Academy to spend two weeks working with the masters of his subjects at the famous "Chamber Music Connects the World" festival.
The young Chilean musician has given numerous concerts in China, Germany, Holland, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Switzerland and Brazil. He has also given concerts together with Prof. Peter von Wienhardt, Cristian Tetzlaff, Brannon Cho, Prof.in. Tabea Zimmermann, Jörg Widmann, Prof. Thomas Reif, David Grimal, Philippe Cassard and others.
He has been described by soloist Tabea Zimmermann as a “wonderfully versatile cellist and an incredibly talented chamber musician.”
From a young age, Figueroa has been a guest at national and international festivals, such as the "Belo Cello Festival" in Brazil, the "Celloherbst am Hellweg" festival in Germany and the “Lumières d‘Europe” chamber music festival in Bucharest, organized by “Les Dissonances” orchestra and supported by the UNESCO. In 2019, Figueroa played as part of "Beethoven bei uns" festival on the Funkhaus Köln stage, which was broadcast by WDR3. The Chilean musician has also played at renowned concert halls such as the “Elbphilarmonie”, “Die Glocke”, and the “Kölner Philharmonie”.
Karl plays since 2022 a old French cello, generously loaned by Dr. medical Peter Hauber.
