originally from Barcelona, Spain began her music career as a child prodigy at the age of two. Her mother, a pianist herself, recognized the first signs of musical precocity. In her native Barcelona, Spain, her exceptional gifts brought her to the attention of Frank Marshall, the eminent piano pedagogue and successor of the GranadosPianoAcademy in Barcelona where in latter years Ms. De Pujadas has collaborated with the famous concert pianist Alicia de Larrocha.
As a child prodigy Ms. De Pujadas performed concerts in her native Spain as soloist with symphony orchestras and later she toured several countries in South America. At the age of five moved to the United States with her family and settled in Los Angeles, California where she continued her studies for several years with the legendary Russian master teacher Sergei Tarnowsky (Vladimir Horowitz first teacher at the Kiev Conservatory from 1914 to 1919). Later she studied at UCLA and at the University of Southern California with Lillian Steuber, Aube Tzerko and with the renowned concert pianist Jakob Gimpel. In her late teens Mariblanca returned to Spain to concertize and further her studies at the Conservatori Superior de Musica del Liceu de Barcelona where she graduated with high honors receiving the Diploma in Piano Performance. Returning to the U. S., did post-graduate work in New York at the Juilliard School of Music under the eminent Adele Marcus, herself a pupil of the legendary Russian pianist Josef Lhevinne and the great German pianist Artur Schnabel.
Ms. De Pujadas had a very successful musical career during her 30 plus years in Los Angeles, California both as a teacher and as a concert pianist. She was in the music faculty at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music and at the MusicCenterSchool for the Performing Arts. In addition, she performed throughout California in concert halls, colleges and universities giving master classes, recitals and being soloist with symphony orchestras performing concertos by Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven among others. She was very well known and respected for her devotion to teaching and developing the skills of her talented students many of whom were frequent state-wide winners in many competitions sponsored by symphony orchestras being selected to perform as soloist. Her students were also chosen to perform in the Young Artist Recitals and in Master Classes at State Conventions of the Music Teachers’ Association and were annual award winners at the California Bach Festivals. In addition, Ms. De Pujadas is a frequent judge for the annual piano auditions of the National Guild of Piano Teachers sponsored by the AmericanCollege of Musicians since the early 1980’s. Currently she is an active member of the Cypress Creek Music Teachers Association and of the Music Teachers’ National Association.
