Artists
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.
Born in la Garriga (Barcelona) in 1997, she started playing the cello at six years. She continued her studies at Leopold Mozart Zentrum from Augsburg University. She was artist-in-residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Waterloo and is currently studying at Stauffer Center for Strings in Cremona. She has performed in festivals and concert halls such as Festival Pablo Casals 2017 in Prades, Supercello Festival 2018 in Beijing, L'Auditori an the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, or the Fundación Juan March in Madrid. As a soloist, she has performed with the Orquestra Camera Musicae, the Bruckner Akademie Orchester, or the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès. She has been awarded in several competitions, among them the Pablo Casals International Award (2016) and El Primer Palau (2020). Until 2018, she played a cello made by Marc Laberte (1921) which belonged to Pau Casals. She is currently playing a cello made by luthier David Bagué in 2019.
