Berklee Student Named 2022 Yamaha Young Performing Artist

Sergio de Miguel, a senior at Berklee College of Music, has been selected as one of 13 winners of the 2022 Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition (YYPA). The YYPA program has honored promising 18- to 22-year-old artists every year since it began in 1988.

Originally from Galicia, Spain, de Miguel is double majoring in piano performance and film scoring. His music fuses his Galician and Spanish roots with traditional and modern jazz harmony. The 20-year-old started playing piano at age 3 and studied for 10 years at the Conservatorio Profesional de Música de Vigo, where he was a pianist in the school's jazz band. He also studied at Seminario Permanente de Jazz de Pontevedra in Pontevedra, Spain, and at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, England.

“The YYPA program is one of the ways we at Yamaha continue to show our commitment to promising young musicians’ futures. Helping to launch the careers of these artists is exciting and deeply fulfilling to us,” said John Wittmann, senior director of artist relations and education for Yamaha Artist Relations Group. “This year’s winners are extraordinary, and we are excited to provide them a completely unique experience.”

In 2017 and 2018, de Miguel participated in Berklee's Five-Week Summer Performance Program (now called Aspire) in Boston, and has performed at the Imaxina Sons, Canjazz, and NigránJazz festivals in Spain. He's also the recipient of the 2021 Berklee Jazz Performance Award from the Piano Department, and in 2019, he was awarded the Emilio and Gloria Estefan Prodigy Scholarship by the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation. 

“I’m very honored to become part of this wonderful team and to share music and projects with talented musicians from the best U.S. music schools and conservatory,” said de Miguel.

De Miguel released his first EP, Espirales, in 2020. Improvisation was key in the recording, which explores new textures, colors, and approaches to jazz. 

YYPA winners are invited to attend an all-expenses-paid weekend at the Music for All Summer Symposium, held at Ball State University, where they have an opportunity to perform in front of thousands of people, gain national press coverage, and participate in workshops.