Born in Toledo, Spain, Carlos Zaragoza finished his Bachelor’s degree with the highest honors in the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón with Mariano García. He continued his studies in France, at the Université Paris Saclay and the Conservatoire de Versailles, where he completed a master's degree with Vincent David. In 2019, he integrated Claude Delangle's saxophone class at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris where he obtained a master's degree in Saxophone, Chamber Music (David Walter's class) and Pedagogy.
Carlos has won several international prizes, including the 1st prize for musical interpretation awarded by Spain's National Institute of Arts and Music (INAEM) and the Collège d’Espagne in Paris, the 1st prize at the Andorra SaxFest Competition, the 1st Honor prize at the Léopold Bellan International Competition, and the 2nd prize at the Adolphe Sax International Competition in Paris, among others. He has performed in prestigious concert halls such as the Salle Cortot in Paris, the Zaragoza Auditorium, the Manuel de Falla Auditorium in Granada, the Théâtre de l'Alliance Française, the Teatro Dengra, as well as the Festival France Musique Occitane Montpellier, the Festival Breuillet and the Festival Européen des Jeunes Talents. He has also collaborated as a soloist with the Lutetia Orchestra, the Andorra National Orchestra, the Castilla la Mancha Symphony Orchestra and the Kammart Ensemble.
His first album, Five Verses, recorded with the 4-time Grammy Award-nominated discography Ibs Classical, has received rave reviews from the press. His velvety timbre and the eminently lyrical writing of the pieces lend an aura of vocality to all his interpretations. Composed of commissions, original works and his own transcriptions, this album highlights the relationship between music and poetry in the 20th and 21st centuries. He also recorded with the same label an album of Spanish music, with his saxophone quartet, Gaman Ensemble.
As a musician committed to his era, his interest in the development of the saxophone has led him to work with composers such as Félix Ibarrondo, Luis Naón, Orlando Bass, Vincent David and Oriol Saladrigues, among others. He has also published his own arrangement for solo saxophone of Marin Marais' Les Folies d'Espagne with the publishing house Henry Lemoine. Equally committed to pedagogy, Carlos teaches at the Conservatoire de Drancy and the Conservatoire Jean Baptiste Lully in Puteaux (Paris, France), and regularly gives master-classes in Spain and abroad.
