5 Hispanic Pianists You Should Know

I think part of the reason why many Americans don’t bother dipping into any international genres is they don’t know where to start. It can be overwhelming, and listening to music with lyrics you don’t understand can be funny at first!

In light of that, I’d like to recommend just a few influential Latin American figures who have had an undeniable impact on music. Not all of them will play “Latin music,” but nonetheless, they should serve as excellent introductions if you like piano and want to explore different musical palettes.

In no particular order, here are 5 of my favorite pianists and composers from Latin America that I think you should know about!

By the way, I compiled all the music into this accompanying YouTube playlist for convenient listening!

1. Manuel Ponce (1882 – 1948)

Let’s start with one of the most well-known hispanic composers of the past 100 years.

Before the early 1900s, music in Mexico was mostly seen as either popular or traditional. The two didn’t really intersect at all until Ponce began to blend the two.

A classically trained pianist, guitarist, and composer from Mexico, Ponce is widely respected for the influence he had on contemporary music in Mexico. His classical compositions all make references to Mexican folk music, and he’s partly responsible for popularizing use of the classical guitar.

We have very few recordings of Miguel Ponce playing himself—and none I could find on the Internet—but here are some lovely renditions of his more popular pieces.

2. Antônio Carlos Jobim (1927-1944)

Known as the “father of bossa nova,” Jobim is another big-time pianist, guitarist and composer.

It wouldn’t take long for you to find out he was Brazilian since a lot of his music incorporates lyrics showing appreciation for the country—not to mention they’re sung in Portuguese.

Getz/Gillberto (1964) is arguably his magna carta, a record done in collaboration with American saxophonist Stan Getz and Brazilian guitarist João Gilberto. He composed and played piano on many of the tracks, including his famous “The Girl from Ipanema.”

This album launched bossa nova onto the world stage. It was one of the best-selling jazz albums at the time, and received multiple Grammys — even becoming the first non-American album to win Album of the Year in 1965.

Jobim continues to be a very popular influence among jazz players. You can definitely hear his sound and style coming from many jazz guitarists still to this day.

3. Antonio Carlos Gomes (1836-1896)

One more pianist/composer, also named Antonio and also from Brazil—Carlos Gomes was around back when the Americas were just known as the “New World.” As such, he’s probably one of the very first famous composers who we’d refer to as “Latino” (we’ll lump him in with Hispanic pianists since we like him so much).

Gomes is best known as an opera composer. He often incorporated Brazilian themes into his work, calling for independence and the abolishment of slavery.

And despite this, his most popular opera, lI Guarany, saw major success in Europe. This was a very impressive feat since this was during the “golden age of opera,” and it was the first opera from the “New World” accepted by Europeans.

Fellow opera composer Giuseppe Verdi called his work “true musical genius,” and even Franz Liszt said that his playing showed “dense technical maturity, full of harmonic and orchestral maturity.”

Needless to say, Carlos Gomes is an underrated composer who is really up there with the other European greats.

4. Rubén González (1919-2003)

Many Cuban genres of music today feature piano, and many of those hispanic pianists’ styles were influenced by Rubén Gonzalez.

Gonzalez is mostly recognized as a pioneer of the son cubano genre. In fact, the earliest son cubano ensembles didn’t even feature a piano until Gonzalez popularized it. After that, the genre really began to come into its own.

Gonzelz also contributed to jazz music, being inspired by American artists such as Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk. These influences played a huge part in his sound, and he had a major role in shaping what’s known as Afro-Cuban jazz today.

As far as his love for piano, he was famously quoted:

“If I can’t take a piano with me to heaven, then I don’t want to go.”

5. Martha Argerich (1941 – Present)

Martha Argerich is your favorite pianist’s favorite pianist. She’s somewhat of an enigma, not having done many interviews and only performing in chamber settings — but she’s also responsible for many classic piano recordings.

While many pianists started playing around the age of 8, Argerich had her debut performance at 8 with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor.

Since then, she’s studied under many renowned pianists such as Freidrich Gulda and Arturo Michelangeli, won a bunch of international competitions, and done tons of piano recordings.

Audiences, critics and fellow pianists all agree – Argerich is easily one of the greatest players of the past century.

I will admit it doesn’t seem Argerich takes much influence from her Argentenian roots, but having been born there and being the player she is—that’s enough to grant her a place amongst my favorite hispanic pianists.