Carlos Núñez Band at the Premiere Festival 2024-25 Beyond Baroque Season

Galician multi-instrumentalist Carlos Núñez performs at the Premiere Festival of the 2024-25 Beyond Baroque Season, presented by Early Music Seattle.

The Premiere Festival of the 2024-25 Beyond Baroque Season features a lineup of events, partnerships, celebrations and performances from artists-in-residence Twelfth Night Ensemble, and Spanish artists Jordi Savall and Carlos Núñez, as well as the debut of the Coffee at Cornish and Music in the Gallery Series.

The Los Angeles Times suggested that “if it’s possible to become a pop star playing traditional music on bagpipes and recorder, Núñez could be the man.” He is considered the world’s most famous player of the gaita, the bagpipes of Galicia, Spain’s northwest, Atlantic Ocean-abutting region rich in Celtic traditional music. The gaita is Galicia’s signature sonic symbol, dating back at least to the 11th century.

Carlos Núñez

A renowned Spanish musician and multi-instrumentalist born in 1971 in Vigo, Galicia, Carlos Núñez is widely recognized for his exceptional skill with the gaita, the traditional Galician bagpipe, as well as his proficiency with various flutes and whistles such as the ocarina, assorted whistles, Scottish highland pipes, uilleann (Irish) pipes, bombarde (a kind of Breton oboe), biniou koz (Breton bagpipes), and pastoral pipes (18th-century precursor of the uilleann pipes).

He began his musical journey at a young age, picking up the bagpipes when he was just eight years old. Núñez pursued formal musical education at the Royal Conservatory in Madrid, where he studied the recorder, and soon gained recognition as a young prodigy.

Carlos Núñez is known for his dedication to Galician music and its Celtic roots, and has played a crucial role in reviving and popularizing Galician musical heritage. His music explores the connections between Galician traditions and other Celtic music forms, as well as influences from flamenco, North African, and Middle Eastern sounds. Núñez’s debut solo album, A Irmandade das Estrelas (Brotherhood of Stars), released in 1996, was a breakthrough for Galician music, featuring over 50 artists and becoming the first Celtic album to achieve platinum status in Spain. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with numerous renowned artists, including Ry Cooder, Sinéad O’Connor, and Los Lobos.