NATCHITOCHES – Pianist Mariana Quainelle will present a recital of Latin American music at a recital on Thursday, Feb. 1 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. The concert is part of the Louisiana Piano Series International. Tickets are $15. Northwestern State University, BPCC@NSU and Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts students are admitted free with a current student I.D. A livestream will be available at capa.nsula.edu/livestream. Northwestern State Assistant Professor of Piano Dr. John Price and Associate Professor of Piano Dr. Francis Yang are co-directors of the of the Louisiana Piano Series International. 

She will play compositions by Luis Gianneo, Rodolfo Arizaga, Carlos Guastavino, Juan José Castro, Camargo Guarnieri, Humberto Allende, Juan Vicente Lecuna, Inés Gómez Carrillo and Manuel Gómez Carrillo.  

Quainelle is included in the first Dictionary of Argentinian Pianists. Born in Córdoba, she grew up in Santiago del Estero, where she received a Golden Medal in 1987. In 1996 she obtained diplomas as professor and graduate in Piano Performance at Córdoba National University. She won first prizes in the Concurso Provincial para Jóvenes Pianistas José F. L. Castiglione (1986), the  Competition for Young Pianists of North West Argentina, Nicolás Segundo Gennero (1999). She  was awarded Outstanding Young Artist of the Year by Fundación Cultural Santiago del Estero (1997). 

Between 2001 and 2004 she lived in Montréal and received scholarships from the Argentinian National Ministery of Education and the Ministry of External Relationships, as well as scholarships from the University of Montreal where she achieved the Master’s degree and Diplôme d’Études Supérieures Specialisées (D.E.S.S.) in piano performance.  

In 2021  she graduated with a Maestría en Interpretación de Música Latinoamericana del siglo XX from Cuyo National University, Mendoza, with her thesis: Inés Gómez Carrillo, pianista argentina. Creadora y difusora de la música latinoamericana del siglo XX.  

During these studies she trained with  teachers Antonio Russo, Brazilean pianist Luiz De Moura Castro and Argentinian pianist Dora De Marinis, who directed her research.  She graduated with a Maestría en Educación Artística con Mención en Música from the Rosario National University.  

She participated in master classes and played in solo recitals, chamber music in several cities in Argentina and as a soloist with orchestras including Symphony of Tucumán National University (UNT), Chamber Orchestra of Banco Empresario, Camerata Lazarte in Tucumán and  the ArgenInta Foundation Chamber Orchestra (OCFA) in Buenos Aires.   

Her repertoire includes women composers, including the complete piano, chamber and orchestra works of  Clara Schumann, whose second book of Melodies she recorded- thanks to a  Beca de fomento 2019 from the Music National Institute (INAMU) – with the soprano María Rosa Hourbeigt. It can be found at  Sound Cloud: https://soundcloud.com/duofamilia or on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/intl-es/artist/0MF4unl09xGsPtEEtYtXeu/discography/album.  

Active as an educator, she has worked since 1991 as Suzuki pedagogy piano professor in Córdoba and Tucumán, Argentina. Currently, she works in institutions of  the Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires as music teacher of Gral Güemes No. 7 school third District, as ballet pianist at ESEAM Aída Victoria Mastrazzi school and the National University of  Arts (UNA), and as piano professor at the Superior School ESEAM Juan Pedro Esnaola, where she also serves as principal professor coordinator. 

Some of her performances as a soloist and chamber musician can be heard on her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwirdMZgvVy20b2jpW2g3BA