Carlos Prieto was born in Mexico City and is a Mexican cellist and writer. He has received enthusiastic public acclaim and won excellent reviews for his performances throughout the United States, Europe, Russia and the former Soviet Union, Asia, and Latin America. The New York Times review of his Carnegie Hall debut raved, "Prieto knows no technical limitations and his musical instincts are impeccable." He plays a Stradivarius cello named the "Piatti" after Carlo Alfredo Piatti, affectionately nicknamed "Chelo Prieto" by the current owner. He is a promoter of contemporary, original classical instrument music by Latin American composers. The Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition is held every three years in Mexico. His son, Carlos Miguel Prieto, is music director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico. Early years Prieto began playing the cello at age four, studying under the instruction of Hungarian cellist Imre Hartman, and also with the Mexican cellist Manuel Garnica Fierro. Prieto was a longtime friend of Igor Stravinsky. When Stravinsky returned to Russia in 1962 after a fifty-year absence, he was accompanied in Moscow by Prieto, who was at that time studying at the Moscow State University in Russia. He also knew Shostakovich and has premiered his first Cello Concerto in different cities in Mexico as well as in Spain. He continued his instruction with Pierre Fournier in Geneva and Leonard Rose in New York. He also studied engineering and economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), university, which appointed him in 1993 member of its Department of Music and Theater Arts Visiting Committee. Music career He has played with orchestras from all over the world, the Royal Philharmonic in London, the Chamber Orchestra of the European Union, the American Symphony Orchestra in New York, the Boston Pops in Symphony Hall, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra, the Spanish National Orchestra, the Spanish Radio, and Television Orchestra, the Irish National Orchestra, the MAV Budapest Orchestra, and many others. He has been invited to many of the world's most prestigious halls, such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, Kennedy Center in Washington; Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles; Roy Thomson in Toronto; Barbican Hall and Wigmore Hall in London; Salle Gaveau and Salle Pleyel in Paris; Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia; Auditorio Nacional in Madrid; The Beijing and Shanghai Concert Halls; the Europalia, Granada, Berlin