LADENABEND Bianca Montobbio, Sebastián Mendoza + Lucia Stavros 

Do., 22. Mai – LADEN : Bianca Montobbio, Sebastián Mendoza + Lucia Stavros 

Piaristengasse 60, 1080

19:00 Uhr: Open doors
Live Music 
20:00 Uhr :  Bianca Montobbio – Geige & Sebastián Mendoza- Cello
21:00 Uhr : Lucia Stravos – Harfe

Bianca and Sebastian met at a music festival and have been friends for several years. After performing together on various occasions, they eventually found themselves living in the same city and thought: why not start a duo?

This evening’s performance, Bianca at the violin and Sebastián at the cello explore the rich tradition of Latin American popular music, showcasing some of its most rapresentative songs and dances in this versatile duo. While the program mainly focuses on styles like tango, bolero, vals, and son, which present a program that highlights the lyrical and rhythmic qualities of both instruments, it also includes a few other classical formats drawn from the European tradition. This program celebrates some of the most iconic musical expressions from Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico.

Born in Lugano, Bianca Montobbio started playing the violin at the age of six. She studied at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana with Hana Kotkova and later she completed her Bachelor’s degree at the Haute École de Musique in Sion with Francesco De Angelis. She is currently studying violin at the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität in Vienna with Boris Brovtsyn. She has had the chance to learn from musicians such as Pavel Vernikov, Ilya Gringolts, Liviu Prunaru, Latica Honda-Rosenberg, and has played in several orchestras, including the Verbier Festival Orchestra and the Swiss Youth Symphony Orchestra. In 2022, she won first prize with distinction at the Swiss Youth Music Competition. Starting in 2025 she will be an academy member of the Tonkünstler Orchestra in Vienna and a member of the Mahler Jugendorchester. 
She loves music, dance, singing, and other forms of artistic expression.

Sebastián’s first contact with music was in his native Bogotá, through the Batuta Foundation, where he was first introduced to the folk music of Colombia and Latin America as a child. He later took up the cello — the instrument that has accompanied him across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. He has performed with ensembles such as the Verbier Festival Orchestra and has toured with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Filarmónica Joven de Colombia. He studied with Julian Arp and Tobias Stosiek at the Kunstuniversität Graz, and with Jean-Guihen Queyras at the Musikhochschule Freiburg. He currently lives in Vienna, where he regularly performs with chamber ensembles and orchestras across Austria.

Lucia Stavros is a New York-based harpist, singer/songwriter, and producer. Lucia’s projects explore the spiritual and emotional connections developed in music and through music.

As described by The Deli Magazine, Lucia’s “show-stealing, often mysterious lyricism, creates an intergenerational atmosphere chamber pop that feels as modern as it does baroque.” Her debut independently produced album, Burn You Up, released in September 2023. She has been featured as a vocalist on “Break Your Bones,” with The Eargoggle Regales, “Curva” with Julian Maliandi, and “Spell Against Gods” with Vinicius Castro/Patrick Phillips.

Lucia co-produced and co-wrote the EP and self-titled debut album with indie band Green and Glass. Her collaborations include harp performances on recordings with artists such as Ariani Delawari, Lea Bertucci and Nola Ranallo. In addition to the above releases, Lucia records and tours with the experimental chamber group Ghost Ensemble. Now in its twelfth season, Ghost Ensemble has released two albums “We Who Walk Again,” and “Mountain Air.” Stavros also performs with S.E.M. Ensemble, New York Repertory Orchestra and in 2023, performed Philip Glass’s 12th Symphony with Brno Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall.

Lucia attended New England Conservatory of Music and continued on to receive an advanced degree in Harp Performance from L’Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris as a Fulbright Scholar for music studies in France. Lucia has performed internationally at distinguished venues Carnegie Hall, Apollo Theater, Jordan Hall, Théâtre Montansier de Versailles, The Universität der Künste Berlin, University Hall Uppsala in Sweden, the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, and many more. Lucia joined the faculty of Brooklyn Conservatory of Music in 2020, where she teaches harp, voice, piano, and serves as the Piano and Harp Department Chair. She has taught masterclasses at the Académie de Rouen, France, Nannaskolans Conservatoire Uppsala, Sweden, University of Massachusetts Amherst and Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.