Sound Reflections Friday, July 11 – Mezzo Forte Busot

Mezzo Forte Busot

The Jerez Duo was born in 2019 from the meeting of soprano Lucía Mariel Fernández and guitarist Juan Pablo Palomino, both graduates of the Arrigo Pedrollo Conservatory in Vicenza. They have performed in numerous concert halls in northern Italy and have trained with internationally renowned maestros such as Stefano Grondona, Laura Mondiello, Antigoni Goni, and, as part of the Alicante International Guitar Master’s Program, with maestro Xavier Diaz-Latorre.

Throughout their careers, they have had the honor of attending classes with M° Grondona, both at the Conservatory and at the Extraordinary Masterclass held at the Fondazione Monte di Pietà in 2024. Their programs include refined and intense works for voice and guitar by composers such as Manuel de Falla, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Federico García Lorca, Joaquín Rodrigo, Fernando Sor, Giancarlo Facchinetti, Benjamin Britten, and John Dowland. In 2024, they received the prestigious “Giancarlo Facchinetti and his Music” scholarship, awarded as part of M° Laura Mondiello’s guitar masterclass at the Scuola Diocesana di Musica Santa Cecilia in Brescia. In 2023, they released their first compilation, Memories of an Exile (available exclusively online), on the Imagesonika label.

Juan Pablo Palomino

Italian guitarist born in 1997. He graduated with the highest grade in Maestro Stefano Grondona’s class at the “Arrigo Pedrollo” Conservatory in Vicenza.

In 2025 he was admitted to the Master’s Degree in Classical Guitar Performance at the University of Alicante (Spain), where he studied with some of the greatest virtuosos of the instrument worldwide: Paul Galbraith, David Russell, Manuel Barrueco, Odair Assad, Raphaella Smits, Fabio Zanon, Xavier Díaz-Latorre and Ignacio Rodes.

He regularly participates in festivals and concert seasons as a soloist and in chamber music ensembles, performing in various Italian provinces and Spain. He regularly participates in Laura Mondiello’s International Guitar Masterclass in Ponte in Valtellina (IT), where he has received the prestigious Oscar Ghiglia and Luca Salvadori scholarships.

In 2025, he published the album Manuel Maria Ponce: Complete Guitar Sonatas with the Stradivarius label, in which he recorded the Sonata Mexicana by Manuel M. Ponce, as part of a project dedicated to the complete guitar sonatas of the Mexican composer.

He has won numerous national and international competitions, including first prize at the “Città di Massa” International Competition, first prize at the “Esperia” National Music Competition, first prize at the “Città di Palmanova” International Competition, first prize at the “L. Agostini” National Competition in Ferrara, first prize at the “Franco Margola” International Competition, and first prize at the Ghisalba National Competition.