Biography

Victoria Cassano

The Spanish-English mezzosoprano Victoria Cassano (Madrid, 1987) began her musical studies playing both piano and violin in her hometown. In 2008 she graduated from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid with a Bachelor degree in Music teaching.

Following her passion for ensemble singing, in 2009 she decided to move to The Netherlands to study Early Music Singing at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague with Rita Dams, Jill Feldman, Michael Chance and Peter Kooij, obtaining her Master’s degree in June 2015.

As a soloist Victoria focuses mainly on oratorio, and has performed works such as Bach’s B minor mass, Weihnachts Oratorium, Johannes Passion, Matthaus Passion, Magnificat and various cantatas, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem and Coronation Mass and Vivaldi’s Magnificat and Gloria. Recent opera appearances include the role of Eduige in the opera “Rodelinda” by Haendel and the role of Arethuze in ”La descente d’Orphee” aux Enfers by Charpentier.

She is a regular member of Vox Luminis and also collaborates with other ensembles such as the Nederlandse Bach Vereniging, having participated in their All of Bach project, Cappella Amsterdam, Nederlands Kamerkoor, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, La Cetra Vokalensemble, Cantoría and La Grande Chapelle.

With Vox Luminis she has recorded various CDs for Ricercar and Alpha Classics, and she has recently recorded a monographic disc of Sebastián Raval with the ensemble La Violondrina.

Since 2018 she lives back in Madrid where she is also developing her own chamber music projects.

Lobke Sprenkeling

Of Dutch origin, Lobke is a recorder player, singer and multidisciplinary artist. She obtained her degree and her Master’s in The Hague and Utrecht, both in recorder and in Performance Art, as well as a Master in Theatre Making at Carlos III University, Madrid.

Simultaneously she studied classical singing and dance. In 2016 she obtained her Doctorate in Music from the Polytechnic University of Valencia with the qualification of cum laude, after her investigation of the Medieval soundscape of Dante’s Divine Comedy.

As a concert performer, she regularly collaborates with various groups and orchestras, such as Les Talens Lyriques, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid at the Teatro Real, the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana at the Palau de les Arts, La Ritirata, Concerto 1700, Ensemble Ímpetus, Capella de Ministrers, La Academia de los Nocturnos, L’Harmonia del Parnàs, La Tendresa, Musica Trobada etc. and has collaborated in the recording of several CD albums. Her own album, “Pulchra Es”, with Jorge López-Escribano, was received with great enthusiasm by critics and the public.

As a musical-theatrical creator and performer, she was accepted into in the Yale Summer Program and took intensive courses with the SITI Company New York and the choreographer Antonio Ruz. She has worked with the multidisciplinary collective Investro and her own multidisciplinary company Suite Oblique. Her musical-theatrical works “Incipit” (2015, 2018) and “Lost” (2017) have been premiered in several Spanish cities. Lobke has collaborated as a composer and performer in the Moroccan-Spanish play “Je Suis Toi”, premiered at the Mohamed V National Theater in Rabat (Morocco), and she is the composer of the soundtrack of the short dance film “Cocito” (2023).

She has taught in Europe, the US and Mexico, both in music and performance. She is currently the recorder teacher at Madrid Royal Conservatory (RCSMM).

Óscar Gallego Covarrubias

Born in Madrid, he studied viola da gamba with Pere Ros at the Conservatory of Music “Arturo Soria” and obtained his degree at Madrid Royal Conservatory (RCSMM). After this, he moved to the Musikhochschule in Bremen (Germany), where he furthered his studies with Hille Perl.

At the same time, he has received classes with prominent artists such as Wieland Kuijken, Marianne Muller, Laurence Dreyfus, Olivier Baumont and François Fernández, Juan Manuel Quintana, and Xurxo Varela, among others.

As a performer he has given concerts both in Europe and in Latin America, and has collaborated with several groups such as the Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico, the Bremerbarockconsort or the Knabenchor Hannover.

He currently combines his teaching as a viola da gamba teacher at Escuela de Canal (Madrid) with his concert activity as a member of various Early Music ensembles such as Angelicata Consort, which has led him to participate in renowned festivals and settings such as the Festival Internacional de Música “En el Camino de Santiago”, Festival Internacional de Arte Sacro (Madrid), Festival Clásicos en Verano (Madrid), Palau de la Música (Valencia), Primer Festival Internacional de Música Antigua (Palencia), among others.

He is also a founding member of the Ferrabosco Consort, a viola da gamba consort, and the Melothesia Música ensemble. In addition to his dedication to the historical repertoire of Early Music and the viola da gamba, he has a great interest in composition, which has led him to begin to compose new music for viola da gamba in an effort to explore new possibilities and languages ​​with this instrument.

In addition to his dedication to the historical repertoire of Early Music and the viola da gamba, his interest in musical creation led him to study composition at Madrid Royal Conservatory (RCSMM) under the tutelage of Fernando Villanueva, where he continues his training in this area.

Ramiro Morales

After obtaining his degrees in Classical Guitar (1998) and Historical Plucked String Instruments (2005) with the highest qualifications, and being the first graduate of Historical Plucked String Instruments in Madrid, he developed extensive experience as a basso continuo player and a soloist, collaborating with, among others,

La Folía (Pedro Bonet), Zarabanda (Álvaro Marías), Delirium Música (Juan Portilla), La Spagna (Alejandro Marías), Speculum (Ernesto Schmied), Camerata Iberia (Juan Carlos de Mulder), Ars Atlántica (Manuel Vilas), OBNI (Miriam Hontana), Música Ficta (Raúl Mallavibarrena) and ONE, with which he offers concerts at national and international festivals, visiting different European countries, South America, Morocco, India, Korea and Japan, throughout his 20-year career.

He has performed for RNE and TVE (Spanish National Radio and Television) on several occasions and has fifteen recordings to his credit playing vihuela, Renaissance lute, archlute and baroque guitar, with Early Music groups – Looking Back (Andreas Prittwitz) among them, with whom he fuses Early Music with other expressions such as jazz or flamenco.

In his most personal projects he explores small-format chamber music, through the duos formed with Juan Carlos de Mulder (lutes and archlutes), Ismael Campanero (archlute and violone), Victoria Cassano (soprano and lute/archlute) and Iván Mellén (baroque guitar and percussion).

Diversifying his activity, he has composed and performed music for short films, documentaries, poetry shows and guitar orchestra. He also participates as an actor and instrumental performer in theatre productions as well as on soundtracks for several period films.

Since 2005 he has been a professor of Historical Plucked String Instruments, Basso Continuo and Chamber Music at the Conservatory of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Madrid.

Jorge López-Escribano

After his studies at the conservatories of Madrid, The Hague and Amsterdam, he has collaborated throughout Europe as a basso continuo player of numerous ensembles and orchestras specialized in historical interpretation such as Vox Luminis, Música Temprana, Les Musiciens du Louvre, La Grande Chapelle, Opera2day, Sfera Armoniosa, La Capilla Real de Madrid, La Spagna, Academia de Música Antigua de Santander, Vigo 430, Orquesta Barroca de la Universidad de Salamanca, Stavanger Baroque Ensemble, Norwegian Baroque Orchestra and Württembergisches Kammerorchester.

He has worked with directors such as Ton Koopman, Bruno Cocset, Jean-Christoph Spinosi, Ryo Terakado, Eric van Nevel, Peter van Heyghen y Charles Toet at festivals such as Holland Oude Muziek Festival, Reincken Festival (Holland), Festival International d’Ambronay, Festival Abbaye de Royaumont, Festival de Sablé (France); Festival van Vlaanderen, Bach Academie Concertgebouw Brugge (Belgium); Musik im Riesen Festival (Austria), Internationale Händel Festpiele Göttingen (Germany); Music Before 1800 New York, Boston Early Music Festival, Miller Theater Columbia University Early Music Festival (USA); Festival de Musica Antiga Obra Social La Caixa, Círculo Bach Madrid, Música Barroca Fundación Juan March (Spain); Gliwicki Festival Bachowski, Wratislavia Cantans Festival (Polonia); Festival Internazionale di Musica Rinascimentale, Ghislieri Musica Festival (Italy); Festival Internacional de Puebla (Mexico); Festival Sesc de Música de Câmara (Brazil), Festival de Música Antigua (Panama), Mozarteum Argentino (Argentina) and Baroque Music Festival Daejon (South-Corea).

He is founder of the ensembles Sopra il Basso and L’Aura Rilucente, which were selected as artists in residence at the Ambronay Cultural Center (France) and at the Riga Center for Early Music (Latvia). His numerous recordings include that of the label Ricercar with the music for the funerals of Queen Mary II by Henry Purcell and Thomas Morley, with the Ensemble Vox Luminis awarded with 5 diapasones, Supersonic, Pizzicato, Gramophon choice, and Prelude Classical.

Jorge is the harpsichord and basso continuo teacher at the Conservatorio Profesional de Música of Salamanca, Spain.