Joaquín Rodrigo Vidrié (Sagunto, Valencia, 1901) is one of the most outstanding composers in Spanish music of all time. Blind from the age of three, he left for Paris in 1927, imitating other great musicians, and there he met Manuel de Falla, whose advice was to greatly influence his career. In 1939 he settled down for good in Madrid and presented his work, conceived and written in Paris, "Concierto de Aranjuez" for guitar and orchestra, with the collaboration of the maestros Regino Sáinz de la Maza and Narciso Yepes. This piece of work launched Joaquín Rodrigo into worldwide fame.

His production continued without a break, composing an incredibly vast musical repertoire, embracing works of all kinds: for piano, guitar, orchestra, vocals, ballets, zarzuelas and choirs. One of his latest pieces of work, "Cántico de San Francisco de Asís", a composition for choir and orchestra written in 1982, was performed for the first time in London in 1986. And on the 17th of July, at the age of 88, he gave the first performance of his work "Líricas Castellanas" in El Escorial.

A member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando), which paid tribute to him in 1989, he has been appointed doctor "honoris causa" by universities such as that of Alicante, the Complutense de Madrid, that of Salamanca, Exeter or Southern California, and he is also member of the Société Europénne de Culture, L´Académie du Monde Latin and the Royal Academy of the Fine Arts of Belgium. As well as the Grand Cross of Alfonso X the Wise (1953) and of Civil Merit (1966), member of the Order of the Arts of France (1960), Gold medal for Fine Arts (1980) and the National Music Award, he has received many other distinctions and tributes.

Joaquín Rodrigo, better known as Maestro Rodrigo, is an inspiration for those who wish to follow his path and, the author of more than three hundred concerts, stirs fascination amongst those who know his work.