Lina Tur Bonet & Dani Espasa
Biography Lina Tur Bonet & Dani Espasa
Lina Tur Bonet
Regarded as "one of the most exciting violinists of her generation", the versatile violinist Lina Tur Bonet has worked together with a large number of the most remarkable performers of either Baroque, Romantic or Contemporary music since her youth.
The convergence of the most significant musical influences that can be traced in her works, from the pioneers of the Historicist approach to Early Music, to the most eminent conductors and musicians of all repertoires, allows her acknowledgement as a depositary of the greatest European tradition in music.
Her uncommonly large repertoire covers up to 400 years of music, always using the proper instruments of every period.
She has a keen taste for chamber music, Johann Sebastian Bach, the repertoire written for unaccompanied violin, the conducting of chamber orchestras and the research on rethorical and symbolic aspects of music.
She is also deeply interested in embodying music into interdisciplinary projects, along with other forms of art expression.
Lina Tur Bonet has performed the complete cycle of Biber’s sixteen “Mystery Sonatas” in a single day, in Vienna. Her violin has been present in a hundred of Bach’s Cantatas and Passions. She has played Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Times, Lutoslawsky and Morton Feldman at Fundación Tapies, Barcelona, has been concertmaster on Saint Mathew’s Passion at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with Concerto Köln, and played as leader with multiple orchestras in Europe, being also soloist of concerts for violin and orchestra with works of Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Ravel, Chausson, Mendelssohn or Piazzolla. She has recently premiered “Melancholia”, a piece for solo violin specifically composed for her by the composer José María Sánchez Verdú. She also played Bach´s complete works for solo violin at the Montreal Baroque Festival.
All this makes her stand as a reference in the classical music scene, having had her summoned for collaborations by some of the most prominent European ensembles in the world.
As a soloist, Ms Tur Bonet can stand a wide record of her appearances at so significant places and events as The Wigmore Hall in London, Styriarte Graz Festival, “Music Before 1800” Festival in New York City, San Diego Early Music Festival, Yale Instrument Collection, Brezice Festival in Slovenia, Herne Festival, Mainz Festival, Brunnenthal Festival Austria, at The Spanish National Auditorium in Madrid, The Residenzwoche Munich, ORF Vienna Radio Hall, Società Aquilana di concerti, Real Coliseo Carlos III in El Escorial, San Sebastián Festival, Granada Music and Dance Festival, London Lufthansa Festival, The Vilalbertrán Schubertiada, The Aranjuez Festival, Ekhof Festival Gotha, Fundación Juan March in Madrid, The Bilbao Musika-Música Festival, The Valencia “Palau de la Música”, and also around Europe as soloist with the European Union Baroque Orchestra at the most prominent Halls and Theaters.
Tur Bonet has been required as concertmaster with consortia like Il Complesso Barocco, Concerto Köln, Clemencic Consort, The Mannhein Chamber Orchestra, Bach Consort Wien, The Hofkapelle Munich or The Valencia Orchestra of Palau de les Arts, and most of the Spanish Baroque ensembles (La Ritirata, Euskal Barock ensemble, Forma Antiqua, Vespres d'Arnadí, Capilla Real, Hippocampus, Stil Concertant…).
She has also played for some years in the first violins with such orchestras as Les Musiciens du Louvre, Les Arts Florissants, The Mahler Chamber Orchestra or the Orchestra Mozart of Claudio Abbado, having taken part in several recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, Naïve or Virgin Records under the lead of Daniel Harding, John Eliot Gardiner, Marc Minkowski, William Christie, Claudio Abbado, Fabio Biondi, Kent Nagano, Ottavio Dantone, Alan Curtis, Reinhardt Goebel, Richard Egarr, Theodor Currentzis or Tugan Sokhiev, with renditions at Lincoln Center New York, Berliner Philarmonie, Scala de Milan, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Royal Albert Hall Proms, Festival de Aix-en-Provence, Barbican Centre, Theatre des Champs Elysèes, Théàtre Royal de la Monnaie, Bunkamura Hall or Sydney Opera House.
In the field of chamber music, she has performed with Mennahem Pressler, Christian Zacharias, Georg Faust, Patrick Demenga, John Holloway, Thomas Brandis, Christian Zacharias, José Miguel Moreno, Josep María Colom, Kenneth Weiss, Hiro Kurosaki, Dani Espasa, Matteo Messori, Patxi Montero, Alexis Kossenko, Christoph Hammer, Axel Wolf, Rüdiger Lotter, Fahmi Alqhai, Marco Testori or members of Cuarteto Casals. She has been lead violinist in chamber music ensembles in venues as The Vienna Musikverein, The Potsdamer Festival, Barocktage Melk, The Barcelona “Palau de la Música”, The Gent Festival van Vlaanderen, Konzerthaus Wien, Gustav Mahler Musikwochen Toblach, The Madrid Fundación Juan March Hall and Auditorio Nacional, or Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Hall. She has been often recorded by BBC in London, Spanish RTVE, Catalonian TV3, Slovenian, Croatian and Bulgarian National Television Channels and The Austrian ORF.
Lina Tur Bonet has been appointed a representative of the Spanish policy for cultural promotion by AECID (Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development). In that role, she has toured several Latin American countries along 2016.
Ms Tur Bonet has played and recorded both works by the greatest authors, as well as previously unreleased compositions, like the complete Boccherini´s Op 34 Trios with "La Ritirata", or chamber music by Spanish composers like Joaquín García, Oliver and Astorga, and Plá, with “Estil Concertant”. She was concertmaster for the premiere of "Le Nozze de Iole ed Ercole" with The Hofkapelle, Munich for ORF label. She was also leader on Boxberg’s opera "Sardanapalus" with The United Continuo Ensemble and on the recording of some unknown chamber compositions from Mahler era for the Austrian Radio.
She played premieres in modern times of some of Gaetan Brunetti´s Trios, Quartets, recording also his Sinfonia Concertante for Violin. Other recordings include premieres of Matteis’ pieces for solo violin and Violin Concerts and Sonatas by Antonio Vivaldi.
As conductor and violinist of her own ensemble, MUSIcha ALcheMIcha, she has released four works so far:
“Eine Begegnung”. Bach´s and Haendel´s Sonatas for violin and continuo, with harpsichordist Anne Marie Dragosits.
“Sonates pour le violon et base continue 1707”, by French composer Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, with Kenneth Weiss and Patxi Montero for Verso label. Awarded “Melómano de Oro” (by Spanish Magazine “Melómano”), “R” (by Spanish “Ritmo Magazine”), and ranked “Five Diapasons” by the prestigious French magazine of the same name, and “Excepcional” (by Spanish magazine “Scherzo”).
“Vivaldi Premieres”, for PAN CLASSICS, a collection of concerti and sonatas by Antonio Vivaldi that introduced some formerly unknown pieces for violin, and meant a great step into the international recognition of her talents. Once more, the list of awards and acknowledgements is notorious, being ranked “Four Diapasons”, “Melómano de Oro” and “Excepcional”, again, and TIPP by German magazine “Toccata”.
“Mystery Sonatas”, a double CD compilation of the emblematic work by H.I.F. von Biber has been spectacularly greeted and praised by public and specialized media. It has been enthusiastically lauded by Gramophone Magazine, and appointed best release of the year by “El Cultural” of “El Mundo”. It has also got “Five Stars” by BBC Music Magazine, “Five Diapasons”, “Melómano de Oro” and “Excepcional”, a nomination for the International Classic Music Awards (ICMA) as 2015 best recording of Baroque Music. To be finally awarded the GEMA prize for 2015 best CD.
Lina’s first approach to music was guided by her father, Antonio Tur, at the age of three. Later on, she completed her studies on violin at Freiburg and Vienna Universities, where she got the highest qualifications with Professors such as Chumachenco, Pichler and Kurosaki, as well as guidance from Tibor Varga, Franco Gulli, Shmuel Askenasi, Augustin Dumay, Joseph Silverstein, Maria Joao Pires, Erich Höbarth and Rainer Kussmaul.
While a student, she was granted several scholarships from a number of institutions from different countries, like the German “Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung Foundation”, “Villa Musica Mainz”, “Austrian ÖAD” or “Seneca Foundation”. She was awarded prizes like “Premio Bonporti” and “Premio Juventudes Musicales de España” (twice), or “Promúsica Murcia” in 2010, among many others.
Lina Tur was honoured MAGISTRA ARTIS by the Musikhochschule Wien for her thesis on “Rhetoric, Symbology and Johann Sebastian’s Bach Ciaccona”. Her research on rethorical and symbolic aspects of music is a constant concern in her professional career.
Besides performing and researching, Tur Bonet develops a teaching assignment in music in Spain, where she held the Chair of Violin at the Conservatorio Superior de Zaragoza (2005 – 2016). She is currently Chair Professor at Conservatorio Superior “Katarina Gurska” in Madrid. She often works as guest teacher in universities from other countries, like Mainz University in Germany.
Her enthusiastic curiosity and constant investigation about different forms of art expression, led Lina Tur to the foundation of MUSIca ALcheMIca, a flexible ensemble that not only allows her to work together with other great musicians in a wide range of styles, but also to meld music with a variety of other multidisciplinary artistic and educational projects.
Different lineups of MUSIca ALcheMIca have performed live concerts in festivals and events in places like Brecize Festival, Potsdamer Festspiele, Zaragoza Early Music Festival, Madrid Sacred Music Festival, Valladolid Auditorium, Brunnenthal Festival, Vienna ORF Hall, Carlos III Theatre at El Escorial, FeMAP, Kartause Mauerbach, Festival del Pórtico de Zamora, Mahón Festival, Perú, Bolivia and Chile. They have also made recordings of music by Legrenzi, Biber, Bach and Haendel for the Austrian Radio ORF.
About this multidisciplinary dimension, some remarkable collaborations with marionettes are to be pointed out, specially with Vienna Kabinetttheater and in puppet shows with Francisco García del Águila. These shows have allowed Ms Tur Bonet to take music out of its ordinary context, to integrate a new experience where it is related with marionettes, a theatrical environment and fabulation.
Some other forays into the fields of artistic performance and video release should be mentioned. As well as mixed up poetry and music performances with Spanish poet Antonio Colinas, being the most remarkable one “La Tumba Negra”, a lecture of a long poem by Colinas, which is dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach, where she plays his d-minor solo Partita. Her desire to find new space for music and the afore mentioned concern for interaction with other disciplines, has taken her to play in museums and other cultural premises, such as MuVIM (Valencia Museum of the Enlightment and Modernity), Sala Matadero in Madrid or MACE. The videos by MUSIca ALcheMIca are becoming very popular for their creative and artistical standing.
Dani Espasa
Born in La Canonja, Dani Espasa studied piano at the Conservatories of Tarragona and Barcelona, and architecture at UPC Barcelona. He has worked as a composer, pianist and music director for theater, dance and television (TV3 and TVE). Besides being a composer and producer of several albums of Lydia Pujol, he is also the musical director, pianist and accordionist for the singer Maria del Mar Bonet. He directed the contemporary music ensemble Bcn216, and has premiered and recorded works for piano by the composer Joan Albert Amargós and Enric Granados. Since 2003, he collaborates as pianist and harpsichordist with the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya (OBC), with whom he has recorded as a solo artist for Naxos, Harmonia Mundi and BIS Records.
After completing his studies in harpsichord and continuo with Béatrice Martin at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC), courses with Pierre Hantaï and Olivier Beaumont, and chamber music studies with J. Savall, P. Memelsdorff, J.-P. Canihac and M. Kraemer, he began an intense activity in Baroque, Renaissance and Medieval music groups. In this aspect, he has worked with Hespèrion XXI, Le Concert des Nations, Acadèmia 1750, Mala Punica, La Hispanoflamenca, Les sacqueboutiers de Toulouse and La Caravaggia. He has performed in prestigious music festivals and concert halls in Europe, America and Asia. Since 2005, he is conductor of the baroque orchestra Vespres d’Arnadí.
Currently he teaches improvisation and chamber music at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC).