Recognizing Dissonances: Gender and Diversity in Musical Careers Today

Chilean-born Catalina Vicens is one of the most active and versatile historical keyboard players of her generation, bringing together performance, research, curation, and composition. Her artistic activity spans repertoire from the Middle Ages to the early Romantic period while also engaging with music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Her recordings as a soloist have received international recognition, including a Diapason d’Or and a Grammy nomination. Vicens is also active as a composer: her works have been premiered at Carnegie Hall and featured in films and museum installations, reflecting an ongoing interest in expanding the sonic and expressive possibilities of early instruments.

In 2021 she was selected as Curator of the San Colombano Museum – Tagliavini Collection in Bologna, one of the world’s most significant collections of playable antique harpsichords. Her extensive work on antique keyboards has shaped her distinctive perspective on the music and sound world of the past.

Vicens has been appointed Professor of Harpsichord and Basso Continuo at the Kunst Universität Graz (2025–2026). She previously served as Guest Professor of Harpsichord and Research at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and Visiting Professor of Harpsichord and Basso Continuo at the Oberlin Conservatory. She has been invited to give masterclasses at more than thirty conservatories and universities, including The Juilliard School, the Curtis Institute, the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, and ESMUC Barcelona. Her wide research activity has led to frequent lecture invitations in international academic contexts.

She studied in Santiago, Philadelphia, Freiburg, Basel, Ghent and Leiden.