Isaac Albéniz or Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz was born in 1860 in Camprodon, Spain. Like many other composers, Albéniz began his musical training in infancy. At the age of just 6, he was to receive piano lessons at the Paris Conservatoire. There was no lack of talent, but his childhood did get in the way of the young virtuoso. After smashing a window with a ball, his education was suspended for immaturity. Fortunately, his little mishap did not end his entire career. He became an entertainer of sorts. His parents made him perform tricks. At concerts, for example, he played blindfolded, backwards or with his knuckles. Whether this early unchildlike creativity finally led him to leave home on his own at the age of just 12 is a matter of conjecture. Albéniz boarded a ship in 1872 and tried to finance a trip to Puerto Rico through concerts. Due to a lack of money, however, he was already thrown out in Buenos Aires. Living in hunger and misery, Isaac was discovered in a café by a Spaniard living in Argentina and was soon able to start a tour of South America. After a short interruption by the police in Santiago (Cuba), he continued his tour, by now with some money in his pocket. Now he was drawn to New York, where he celebrated some successes, continued via Los Angeles to Liverpool, from where he arrived in Leipzig via London.

But his jet-set life didn't end there either, and he found himself in Italy, France, South and North America as well as Spain in the years to come. In Germany, he was a temporary student of Franz Liszt.

It was only in 1902, with his arrival in Paris, that a little peace seemed to enter his life. There he became the composer he is still known as today. He then remained in France. In 1909, Isaac Albéniz died at the age of 49 in Cambo le Bains (southern France).

The Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra performed a work by Albéniz for the last time on 23.01.2022.