María Dueñas

First prizewinner of the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition in 2021, Spanish violinist María Dueñas signed with the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon label at the age of nineteen. Born in Granada, Andalusia, on December 2, 2002, María Dueñas Fernández was introduced to the violin at the age of six, taking lessons at the Àngel Barrios Conservatory before joining the Jeunesses Musicales de Madrid at the age of eleven. Her ability to grasp virtuoso pieces led her to continue her studies at the Maria von Weber College in Dresden, then to Vienna on the recommendation of conductor Vladimir Spivakov, where her teacher was Boris Kuschnir. Her solo career quickly took off on the international scene, and after winning several prizes in competitions, in 2021 she won first prize in the Carnegie Hall Competition in New York and first prize in the Yehudi Menuhin Competition, as well as the Audience Prize. Signed by the Deutsche Grammophon label at just nineteen, María Dueñas recorded her first album based on Beethoven's Violin Concerto, Op. 61, featuring her own cadenza alongside those by Kreisler, Spohr, Wieniawski, Ysaÿe and Saint-Saëns, conducted by Manfred Honeck and the Wiener Symphoniker. María Dueñas also performs chamber music with The Hamamelis Quartet. In addition to several singles and EP releases, in 2025 she performed her version of Paganini's 24 Caprices with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin conducted by Boris Kuschnir, in a recital featuring works by Sarasate, Kreisler, Wieniawski, Berlioz, Saint-Saëns, Jordi Cervelló and Gabriela Ortiz, with contributions from Raphaël Feuillâtre, Itamar Golan and Alexander Malofeev.