José Luis Larzabal, composer
The talented José Luis Larzabal, born in Argentina, began piano lessons at the age of 5. In his youth he studied harmony, counterpoint, fugue and composition as well as singing, voice training and choir conducting. Parallel to his chemistry studies at the At the University of Buenos Aires he completed courses in the interpretation of early European vocal music.
In the field of singing, he works as a baritone, vocal ensemble trainer, choir director and singing teacher. José Luis Larzabal has arranged more than a hundred choral versions of works by other composers, highlighting folkloric and regional works such as Gualambao and Guaraña, for which he has provided vocal training in various formations. wrote instrumental versions.
He was choirmaster of the III and IV International Choral Festival in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and has performed as a soloist and chorister with the following choirs and ensembles: “Armonía” Polyphonic Choir (Posadas, Argentina), Vocal Ensemble Ars Nova (Posadas), Lagun Onak Choir (Buenos Aires, Argentina), Wagner Association Choir (Buenos Aires), Vocal Ensemble Flumen Argenti (Buenos Aires), Vocal Ensemble Spargens Sonum (Buenos Aires), Orfeón de las Trincheras (Posadas), Cantoría de las Misiones (Posadas) and Vocal Ensemble “ Canto Abierto” (Posadas), of which he is still a member today.
Larzabal has conducted numerous choirs in the provinces of Misiones and Buenos Aires and has composed choral symphonic works for the Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra, the Friends of Music Orchestra, the Lagun Onak Association Orchestra, the National Symphonic Orchestra and the Teatro Colón Orchestra.
He has received awards such as "Jeunesses Musicales Argentina", the University of Buenos Aires, the Chamber Vocal Society of Buenos Aires, the UNICO Annual Prize (Buenos Aires City Council) and the First Prize of the Ministry of Culture (Banco de la Provincia de Misiones).
His works include: oratorio “El obrero de Dios” (Workers of God, 1992), cantata “Heridas y cicatrices”, “Voces de aliento para Rigoberta Menchú Tum” (cantata to Rigoberta Menchú, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Guatemala 1992), works for string quartet: “ Sonata clásica" No. 1 in 4 movements in C major (1994), "Sonata Misionera" No. 2 in G minor (1995), cantata "La carta del soldado" (The Soldier's Letter, 2003), "Easter Mass" ( 2004), sonata “Las cuatro estaciones de Jobim”, symphony “La Eneida” (2013), guitar concerto “Apeguá” (2013), “Peace Mass” (2015) and Stabat Mater (2019).
Pablo Quinteros, conductor
Extensive career in the field of choral music in Argentina as a conductor, arranger and music producer. He is the artistic and musical director of the "Programa Coros Porteños" of the Ministry of Culture of CABA and has conducted the "Agrupación Coral Porteña" and the "Coro de Empleados del GCBA" since its foundation.
He founded the "Agrupación Guitarra Concertante" as artistic and musical director, dedicated to the dissemination of the academic guitar repertoire. Important productions include concerts in honor of Mario Castelnueovo Tedesco (2018), H. Villa Lobos (2019) and Joaquín Rodrigo (2019). In 2024 he produced the recording and the Double Concerto for guitar, bandoneon and string orchestra by Federico Siksnys.
He is co-founder of the artistic research group OPERA 3.0, which works on the new concept of TECNOCULTURA. In 2017 they produced "Violetta Muere" based on La Traviata by G. Verdi, which was performed at the Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires. In 2020 he produced "Amami Alfredo" for the Teatro Picadero. He is currently working on an opera project with Martin Palmeri and Florencia Bendersky.
In 2016, he took part in the 20th anniversary concert of Martín Palmeri's "Misa a Buenos Aires" at Carnegie Hall New York with the CORO ITMC Buenos Aires. In 2017, he took part in the world premiere of Martín Palmeri's "Tango Credo" at Lincoln Center (NY-USA). In 2018, he took part in the "Festival Misatango" in Vienna and performed concerts in Germany.
He was invited by "LiberArte Bonn" to lead the first workshop on Misatango by Martín Palmeri in Cologne. As part of the Beethoven anniversary celebrations in 2020, he conducted the world premiere of Tango Choral Fantasy by Martín Palmeri.
He studied choral conducting at the Conservatorio Provincial Juan José Castro with Antonio Russo and Néstor Zadoff. He studied orchestral conducting with Jorge Fontenla and took master classes with Kurt Masur. He specialized in orchestration and arrangement with Juan Raffo and Daniel Camelo and took opera conducting courses with Carlos Vieu.
He is currently the conductor and arranger of the choir of the Club BOCA JRS., Coral Concuerdas and the Coro ITMC Buenos Aires. As a singer he has participated in numerous operas and symphonic-choral works.
As a singing teacher, he has taught at the Conservatorio Municipal de Música y Danza “José Hernandez” and at the Instituto Tecnológico de Música Contemporánea and has given seminars for the sung voice at the Faculty of Phoniatrics (UBA) since 2016.
He is an Alexander Technique teacher and has held seminars in various cultural institutions. He founded the "Pequeña Orquesta" to work with the Alexander Technique.
Lupe Larzabal, mezzo-soprano
Lupe Larzabal, born in Argentina, studied singing and bass at the EPM Folk Music School in Buenos Aires, after studying mathematics and physics at the Mariano Acosta School of Mathematics and Physics in Buenos Aires. She received her vocal training from the opera singers Marta Blanco (Argentina), tenor Alastair Thompson (The King's Singers) and baritone Aris Argiris (Germany). From 2000 to 2001 she completed a master's degree in music with a focus on singing in her home country.
She made her opera debut in 2001 and impressed in roles such as the "Third Lady" in "The Magic Flute", "La Marchant" in "Les mamelles de Tirésias", Erda in "Das Rheingold", Farnace in "Mitridate, re di Ponto", Pisana in "I due Foscari", Marchese in "La fille du régiment", Carmen in "Carmen", Gertrud in "Roméo et Juliette" and the "Old Lady" in "Candide". In 2007 she joined the Bonn Opera Choir and made her solo debut in "Sancta Susanna" in 2012 and in "Dionysos" at the Heidelberg Theater in 2013. Since 1995 she has appeared in numerous concerts as a soloist in both oratorios and secular pieces.
In 2003 she moved to Germany, where she continued her vocal training with Alastair Thompson in Cologne.
In 2015, she founded the CantArte association with the aim of organizing international cultural projects. From the same year until 2021, she directed the choir "Voces de las Américas". She also conducted other choirs, such as the women's choir "Monday Monday" in Bonn and the vocal ensemble "Claroscuro", with which she still gives concerts of Latin American baroque music with her own orchestral arrangements.
She currently directs the German-Hispanic-American Choir in Bonn and has performed works with them such as the “Stabat Mater” by José Luis Larzabal in Vienna, Austria, and the “Misa de Paz” by the same composer in Bonn.
Since 2019, she has been organizing the "International Choral Festival LiberArte" together with the LiberArte Bonn association and the conductor Pablo Quintero. The first edition of the festival took place in Germany in 2019 and was carried out in collaboration with the composer Martín Palmeri. This edition was followed by the world premiere of Palmeri's "Tango Choral Fantasy" on the occasion of Beethoven's 250th birthday. The next edition of the festival will take place in 2025 in Bonn and Buenos Aires with the works "Schicksalslied" by Brahms and "La Eneida" by José Luis Larzabal.
Lupe Larzabal has been working as a singing teacher since 2010 and has been running her own music studio in Bonn since 2014.
