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Miquel Llobet began to study drawing and painting with the artist Torres Casana. Although he always maintained a great fondness for drawing, even going so far as to exhibit some works, he soon directed his efforts towards the guitar. He received the first lessons of Magí Alegre. At the age of sixteen he enrolled in the Conservatori Municipal de Barcelona, despite this fact Llobet can be considered, above all, self-taught. At the conservatory he studied for a time with the great guitarist Francesc Tàrrega.
In 1899 he already played for the Sociedad Filarmónica de Malaga and at the Paris Exposition. He finished his studies at the conservatory in 1901 and in 1903 he made a tour in which he got to play for the royal family in Madrid. In 1904 he moved to Paris where, thanks to the support of musicians like Ricard Viñes, he quickly became famous. In the city he was highly requested to play in private evenings and at the same time he gave guitar lessons. During those years he gave many concerts in Europe and even played in England. During those years he met Paul Dukas, Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy and Isaac Albéniz, and established a lasting friendship with Manuel de Falla, with whom he shared several programs in París.
In 1910 he made the first of his numerous tours of Argentina. In 1912 he expanded the tour to other South American countries and came to the United States. During the First World War he decided to undertake several tours of the Americas and visited the United States twice again, 1916 and 1917. During the war he spent a long time in Spain, where in 1915 he met Andrés Segovia.
During the 1920s he formed a duo with one of his favorite students, María Luisa Anido. Several composers dedicated works to him: Manuel de Falla, López-Chavarri, Barberà, Lamote de Grignon or Broqua. In 1925 he made several recordings, some of them in a duet with María Luisa Anido in 1930. In 1934 he undertook his last long tour in Europe. Towards 1936, at the beginning of the Spanish civil war, health problems forced him to reduce his activity.
Miguel Llobet was one of the greatest virtuoso guitarists of the century and perhaps the first of a modern school of instrument performance. He increased the guitar repertoire, through the transcriptions he wrote of works by Albéniz, Granados, Falla and pieces by Spanish and foreign composers of the 19th century. Emili Pujol said of Llobet's works for guitar that they are the most advanced guitar pieces composed between the end of the s. XIX and early s. XX.
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Miquel Llobet Archive in the Music Museum in BarcelonaCertamen Llobet Miquel Llobet Guitar Collection in the Museu de la Música
OBRAS INTERPRETADASPreludes No 1, 2 i 3, for guitar
El testament d'Amèlia, for guitar
Cançó del lladre, for guitar
El noi de la mare, for guitar
La nit de Nadal, for guitar
Romanza, for guitar