Who is Rebeca Nuez Suarez? Meet the Next Generation of Classical Music Talent
Born in Spain to music and literature professor parents, Rebeca Nuez Suarez came into the world with artistic promise practically carved into her fate. Honoring their passion for the arts, she was named Rebeca (the Spanish spelling of this name includes only once c) after Hitchcock’s masterful adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s modern literature classic and after the iconic, well-loved character in Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe. Little did they know that she would go on to follow the trail of her name and become an artist in her own right.
Upon the insistence of her violinist aunt and uncle, Nuez Suarez started her musical training at the tender age of three, learning the musical language at the same time she learned to read and write. By the time she was six, she began training as a violinist under the guidance of her uncle, performing on stage for the first time at the age of seven.
Classical Music: Alive and Well
In a society that is increasingly obsessed with the latest technology, ‘It’ TikTok dance crazes, and whatever trends on social media, it is easy to understand why so many believe the art of classical music is in many ways irrelevant to our current culture. However, with more music being produced than ever, with full classical orchestras formed in over 70% of the world’s countries, and with so many artists across popular music genres drawing inspiration from the classical music tradition, this old art form appears to be far from being dead.
Over the centuries, classical music has transformed itself to become a building block, setting the framework for musicians of all types today. With a new generation of fresh-faced classical talent and the constant efforts of the classical industry to reinvent itself, even the creeping concerns about the decreasing and aging audience at classical concert halls start to read like a fading bad dream. According to a report by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, a third of classical music streamers are in fact 18-25-year-olds.
Photo Credit: Nadi Polak
Making History
In 2019, Rebeca Nuez Suarez became the first Spanish classical musician to feature in Vevo with her video clip The Furies. The multinational premium video hosting service, which exists within the Youtube net, is the main platform for mainstream artists to share their music video content with the world, featuring roughly every major artist within popular culture. Classical music, however, can be considerably more difficult to spot. While a number of international classical music stars like Lang Lang, Hilary Hahn, or Sheku Kanneh-Mason are regularly featured in Vevo, it is relatively rare for most classical musicians to appear within the platform, let alone to make music video styled content at all.
Rebeca Nuez Suarez’s work with The Furies makes her join a generation of talented young musicians willing to spin a contemporary stance on classical music that is effectively integrating it within the structures of a most mainstream musical context.
A graduate of the Maastricht Conservatorium in the south of the Netherlands, Nuez Suarez continued her training at the Royal College of Music, one of the most sought after London arts institutions, and arguably the leading classical music school worldwide with an unmatched international reputation.
A substantial and highly competitive scholarship by La Caixa Foundation allowed her to pursue postgraduate study in London, an academic path that she has continued as a doctoral researcher at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Nuez Suarez has so far had an eclectic career development combining her ongoing studies with recitals and orchestral tours across Europe and Asia, various charity engagements under director Björn Bus and even an invitation to perform at the annual Cinémoi charity gala in Cannes during the 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.
In 2018, her recording of the piece Alone for solo violin, composed by Spanish composer Laura Vega was commercially released on all mainstream digital music platforms. Digital releases of her performances and recordings of Frédéric Chopin’s Nocturne Nr. 20 and Eugene Ysaÿe’s second Sonata have been released as well and are currently available to audiences worldwide, while her videos The Furies and Malinconia have reached hundreds of thousands of online users across platforms.
What’s Next
A new release has been officially announced through her social media, as the instrumental ballade for violin and piano After a Dream (also known as Après un Rêve) by Gabriel Fauré is now expected to be released in early 2022.
