Raquel Lojendio

Raquel Lojendio

The versatility of the Canarian soprano Raquel Lojendio enables her to approach a repertoire as vast as Bach, Mozart, Stravinsky, Verdi, Shostakovich and Wagner. She has worked with conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner, Fruhbeck de Burgos, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Juanjo Mena, Jun Markl, Antoni Wit, Lopez Cobos, Garcia Calvo, Victor Pablo Perez, Jiri Kout, Christian Zacharias, George Pehlivanian, Vassili Petrenko, Rus Broseta, etc.

She has performed with the main Spanish orchestras and also abroad with Berliner Philharmoniker, Boston Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai in Torino, Bergen Filharmoniske Orkester, Dresdner Philharmonie, Hamburger Symphoniker, "Giuseppe Verdi" Philharmonic Orchestra of Trieste and Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, among others.

Highlights of her operatic repertoire include roles such as: Pamina in Die Zauberflote, Violetta in La Traviata, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Morgana in Alcina, Susanna in Il Segreto di Susanna by Wolf Ferrari, Marguerite in Faust, Musetta in La Boheme, and Alice Ford in Falstaff, in theaters such as Teatro Verdi in Trieste, Teatro Real in Madrid, Maestranza in Seville, among others.

Her concert repertoire includes Mahler's 2nd, 4th and 8th Symphonies, Falla's El Sombrero de tres picos, Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem, Menotti's Muero porque no muero, Shostakovich's 14th Symphony, Mozart's Requiem, Orff's Carmina Burana, Beethoven's Christus am Olberge and Ninth Symphony, Villalobos' Bacchianas Brasileiras, Haydn's Die Schopfung, Stravinsky's Les Noces, Frank Martin's Maria-Triptychon, and Britten's Les Illuminations, in venues such as Berliner Philharmonie, Tanglewood Festival, Manchester Bridgewater Hall, Benaroya Hall George Enescu Festival, Bergen Grieg Hall, Teatro municipal de Cali, Toulouse Halle aux Grains, and Teatro Colon in Bogota.

She has recorded for major labels such as Deutsche Grammophon, Naxos, Licanus, Rtve Musica and Chandos.

She studied at the Conservatorio Superior of her hometown and at the Conservatorio Superior de Musica del Liceo in Barcelona, with Carmen Bustamante. She has received further training from Maria Oran and Krisztina Laki.
Lojendio is trained in classical ballet at the Royal Academy of Dance in London.

Chicky Martin

Chiky Martin was born in Madrid, where she studied piano with Maria Teresa Fuster and Pedro Lerma, obtaining the "Outstanding Graduation Award".

She worked with Rosa Sabater, Maria Curccio, Christopher Elton and Josep Colom in different courses on performance and chamber music, although her true chamber training came from the guidance of Felix Lavilla, with whom she maintains a close professional relationship.

She has performed in numerous recitals and concerts together with prestigious singers such as Teresa Berganza, Maria Oran, Raquel Lojendio and Maria Jose Montiel, and with renowned instrumentalists such as Asier Polo, Aurora Natola-Ginastera, Michele Arrignon, Reine Flachot, among many others.

Chiky Martin has performed at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Palau de la Musica in Valencia, Tchaikovsky Hall in St. Petersburg, Filhamonia Nadorwa in Warsaw, Auditorio Manuel de Falla in Granada and for the Philharmonic Societies of Las Palmas, Oviedo, Zaragoza, La Coruna, the Chamber Music Series of the Fundacion Juan March, International Festival of Contemporary Music in Alicante, International Music Festival of the Canary Islands, and in Berlin, Stuttgart, Freiburg, Lisbon, Istanbul, Melbourne, Adelaide, Panama and Mexico.

She toured Australia with Teresa Berganza, culminating in a memorable concert at the Sydney Opera House.

Together with Maria Oran, she has recorded two CDs for EMI with the complete works for voice and piano by Anton Garcia Abril, which have been met with enthusiasm by audiences and critics alike. Her latest recording, with soprano Raquel Lojendio for IBS Classical, is called "P'ra voce", a record that has achieved outstanding praise and includes songs by Guastavino, Ginastera, Ovalle, Pagliuchi, Oscar Lorenzo Fernandez and Villalobos.