Artists
Qualified by The New York Times as an 'exceptional lied accompanist,' Brazilian pianist Marcelo Amaral has positioned himself as one of the most internationally sought-after collaborative pianists. He studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Indiana, and since winning the Robert Schumann International Competition in 2009, he has collaborated with numerous singers, including Christoph Prégardien and Roman Trekel. He is a frequent guest at Wigmore Hall in London, the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, and the Oxford Lieder Festival. Among his most important musical influences are prominent artists such as Elly Ameling, Helmut Deutsch, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Malcolm Martineau, and Peter Schreier. Marcelo Amaral is a member of the Arts Council of the Hugo Wolf Academy, and since 2014, he has held a chair in Lied Interpretation at the Hochschule für Musik in Nuremberg.
At only 33 years of age, Mezquida shines equally as composer, pianist, improviser, accompanist and bandleader; that he is eclectic and versatile, is to name the obvious. Above all, Marco is a playful and unpredictable artist, who creates a world of his own that is at once inviting and fascinating. Mezquida is creative and resourceful, blending influences of Keith Jarrett, Schubert, Bill Evans, Rachmaninov and Paul Bley. He lets them all in, invites them to play in his music, integrates them into his stream of consciousness. Mezquida plays in a large variety of constellations including solo piano, accompanied by orchestras, duos and trios. His music crosses genres, including jazz as well as his original approaches to Ravel, Handel or Chopin, flamenco, or popular Latin American music. One of his most successful projects in the last few years has been Chicuelo y Mezquida, a trio that blends jazz and flamenco together.
Born in Esparreguera (Barcelona) in a musicians' family, Maria started her violin studies at the age of four with her father, cellist and conductor Cristian Florea, and was only seven years old when she performed her first concert as a soloist. She studied in Barcelona and at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid. She completed her master's degree in Performance at the Royal Academy of Music of London and postgraduated at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg and at the Musik-Akademie in Basel. As a soloist and chamber musician she has performed in concert halls in Europe such as Palau de la Música Catalana and L’Auditori in Barcelona, Teatro Monumental and Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest and Wigmore Hall in London; she has recently been on a 19 concert tour as a soloist in China. She’s a member of Trio da Vinci, founded in 2018.
Estudia piano clàssic, direcció coral i orquestral a l’ESMUC i cursa un màster en Pianista acompanyant a la Guildhall School of Music and Drama de Londres. També a Londres, comença a dirigir assistint Alice Farnham i Eamonn Dougann. L’any 2016 s’estableix de nou a Catalunya, com a pianista i assistent de direcció de les corals Fòrum Vocal i Coral Canigó. El 2018 assumeix la direcció del cor de cambra ARSinNOVA i el 2019, la del cor de cambra NOCTES, amb qui obté el 2n premi al Certamen Coral Ciudad de Granada (2023) i grava música inèdita de Johan Duijck. Des de 2022 col·labora amb l’Orfeó Català. Ha dirigit produccions al Teatre Lliure, el Mercat de les Flors i festivals destacats com Jardins de Pedralbes, el Mercat de la Música Viva de Vic i el Festival de Música Religiosa de Vic.
Nascuda el 1996 a Hondarribia, és una violista formada a la Hochschule für Musik de Dresden, on va estudiar amb la professora Pauline Sachse i va obtenir el màster amb distincions. Ha perfeccionat les seves habilitats en música de cambra amb mestres com Tabea Zimmermann i Heime Müller. Amb una àmplia experiència orquestral, ha tocat amb l’Ensemble Resonanz i la Mahler Chamber Orchestra, i és membre titular de l'Orquestra Estatal d'Hamburg des del 2017. El 2023, va rebre el tercer premi al concurs Oskar Nedbal a Praga i és membre de l’Amaris Quartett des de 2020.