"Estrella is an intelligent and profound virtuoso. When he begins to play, an almost magical atmosphere grips the audience."
La Prensa de Panama

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A pianist of worldwide reputation, Miguel Angel Estrella chose very early on to serve the poor, particularly those deprived of the right to education and culture.

Imprisoned and tortured under Latin American dictatorships, he was freed following the worldwide campaign of solidarity led by Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Henri Dutilleux and Yehudi Menuhin, among others. In 1982, he created an NGO recognized by UNESCO called Music and Hope, bringing music into schools, hospitals, prisons, city quarters, suburbs, and rural regions in countries throughout the world.

In 2000, he created the Orchestra for Peace, an ensemble composed of young Arab and Israeli musicians united by music and impassioned with the hope of progressing along the road to peace.

As an unconventional artist with a strong sense of social awareness he was against the commercial use of music and the spirit of competition that pitted artists against each other.

Through his Music and Hope team, he was the creative force behind numerous programs, particularly in South America. Examples of his efforts include the drive to increase literacy in the prisons of Argentina, the creation of a training center for social worker musicians, and the establishment of a friendship house in a Buenos Aires slum. He has also developed the program “A Voice for Those Without a Voice”, which seeks to promote talented musicians who bring rich traditions from distant cultures often ignored by conventional commercial pathways.

His musical talent as a pianist was exhibited in a recital of romantic works; this performance was noticed by Jacques Longchampt, a well-known French musical critic. Longchampt notes: "Miguel Angel Estrella is thoroughly engaged when playing these pages of transcendental virtuosity… He was at the height of his talents, which is all the more remarkable when one considers the extremely heavy responsibilities he bears as Argentina’s ambassador to UNESCO, as well as his preoccupation with serving others".

Miguel Angle Estrella is a knight of the French Legion of Honor and serves as Argentina’s Ambassador to UNESCO.

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