Luis Gustavo Prado is a Puerto Rican composer and pianist currently residing in Madrid, Spain. He was born in 1970 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Prado’s interest in music started at a young age, and he began his formal training at the Escuela Libre de Música Ernesto Ramos Antonini in Hato Rey and the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico in piano under the tutelage of Héctor Ledoux, from 1982 to 1989. Luis continued his studies in music composition and piano at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, from 1989 to 1993. During this time, he studied composition under Joseph Castaldo and piano with Susan Starr. He then pursued a diploma in composition at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia from 1993 to 1996, under the tutelage of Ned Rorem. Mr. Prado has completed various professional formations throughout his career, including XIII and XV Workshop on music and sound in cinema with Eduardo Armenteros and José Miguel Martínez at the SGAE Foundation in Madrid (2015-2016, 2020-2021). He has also studied flamenco with Flamenco Pianist Pablo Rubén Maldonado in Madrid (2007-2010) and has studied the music of Iran, Japan, China, and other countries of the Far East at Atlas Academy with the Atlas Ensemble at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam (2009, 2010).

Mr. Prado has received various awards and scholarships throughout his career. In 1996, he received the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He also received the Alfredo Casella Award from The Curtis Institute of Music in 1995, the Susan Rose Foundation Scholarship from Carnegie Hall in 1997, and the Steinway Piano Award from the University of the Arts in 1993. In addition, Prado received grants from the Pew Foundation, including one in collaboration with visual artists and poets for “Winter” as part of the project “Four Seasons for Today” with The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia (1996-1997). He also received a grant for the creation of “Concierto de piano para la mano izquierda,” premiered by Gary Graffman and Ignat Solzhenytsin with The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia in 2001-2002.

In December 2022, Mr. Prado’s music was featured in “Flamenca 391,” a flamenco ballet production by Estévez/Paños y compañía, premiered in Madrid at Auditorio de Coslada. He also created original music, arrangements, and music supervision for María Teresa Morín’s production of “Ojos bonitos, cuadros feos” in Madrid in 2019-2020. In March 2019, his arrangements of “Addio ai Viennesi, Bolero” (Rossini) were featured on the BBC Orchestra with Juan Diego Flórez at Royal Albert Hall. Prado also composed the original music for Andalusia’s National Ballet Flamenco with the work “El Sombrero,” which premiered in Gran Teatro, Córdoba, in November 2019, and at Theâtre Bernadette Lafont, Nîmes, France, in January 2020. In addition, Prado composed a cycle of songs for mezzo-soprano and piano on poems by Juan Ramón Jiménez, entitled “Diario de un Poeta Reciencasado,” which premiered with Anna Tonna in Huelva, CajaSur, and Moguer Foundation, Juan Ramón Jiménez House-Museum, Ibero-American Cultural Autumn, in November 2018. At that same time he also composed original music for the play “One flew over the cuckoo’s nest” for the La DaliaFilms.

Prado’s original works, arrangements, and collaborative projects include music for the Flamenco Ballet company Estévez/Paños y compañía, vocal and dance work for The Opera Atelier in Miami exploring the musical heritage of Cuba, and a suite for student string orchestra commissioned by the International Association of New Haven. He has also created original music for theatrical productions such as “Preflamencos”, “Flamenco XXI: Café, ópera y puro” and Encounter with Lorca: Death, Love and Art, and composed music for a cycle of songs for mezzo-soprano and piano on poems by Federico García Lorca for Israeli Mezzo-soprano Rinat Shaham. Prado has also arranged music for Juan Diego Flórez and the BBC Orchestra, and his album “Italia” contains six of his arrangements amongst others.