was born in Munich to Spanish parents. He started playing the cello at 14 with Elías Arizcuren; he graduated from the Reina Sofia School of Music and participated in Master’s courses with cellists such as János Starker and Ralph Kirshbaum. He was encouraged by cellists Bernard Greenhouse of the Beaux Arts Trio, Lluís Claret and Gary Hoffman. In 2002 he was awarded the Maurice Ravel Prize from the Ravel Academy and began his international career. In 2010 he gave his debut with the London Symphony Orchestra at Ibermúsica in Madrid. Engagements followed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Charles Dutoit, the Orquesta Nacional de España under Ton Koopman and Krzysztof Penderecki, and the London Philharmonic under Vladimir Jurowski. He is a regular guest of all major Spanish orchestras, and has performed with conductors such as Edward Gardner, Michael Tilson Thomas, Roberto Minczuk, Riccardo Chailly, Pablo González, Lucas Macías, Enrique Diemecke and Antoni Ros-Marbà, at major venues all over the world, including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid and the Ford Theatre in Los Angeles. In October 2021, he made his debut with the Robert Schumann Philharmonie Chemnitz under Guillermo García Calvo.
He is a devoted chamber musician and has appeared at festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Mendelssohn Festival of the Gewandhaus Leipzig, Música y Danza de Granada, the Ravinia Festival and the Montreal Symphony Summer Festival with partners including Josu de Solaun, Gilles Vonsattel, Christopher Park and Alissa Margulis. Among his recordings are works by Barber, Rachmaninov and Piazzolla. His recordings of Bach’s Six Suites for solo cello, all Beethoven’s Sonatas and the Dvořák Cello Concerto have been highly acclaimed. Adolfo plays a cello by Francesco Ruggieri (Cremona, 1673).
