The Lluc Cello Ensemble, a recently created cello octet in Barcelona which has already started with a working period in Mallorca, already has projects in the Netherlands, Barcelona and Los Angeles. You can help us make them possible!

Who we are

Lluc Cello Ensemble was born out of the enthusiasm of a group of young cellists whose paths crossed after all of them studied with the great cellist and pedagogue Amparo Lacruz.

Lluc Cello Ensemble started as a small project but has quickly escalated to become a path that will take us as far as we are willing to reach. The story so far: from Amsterdam and Groningen in The Netherlands to Los Angeles in the USA, stopping meantime in the recording studio from Columna Música in Barcelona.

The name of the ensemble derives from our first experience, rehearsing together on a spiritual and magical location: Lluc Sanctuary in Mallorca. Lluc, from the Latin “lucus”, meaning sacred forest, is a word which was used in olden times with a very specific and unique meaning.

Our projects

Initially, there were two reasons why we began this adventure: the Cello Biënnale Amsterdam 2018 and the work Díptic by the famous composer Joan Guinjoan.

The Cello Biënnale Amsterdam is one of the main music festivals not only in Europe but around the world. The festival takes place in Amsterdam every two years and it is a rare event, hosting many of the best cellists around who come to give concerts, recitals, and masterclasses. The Biënnale is also committed to working with young musicians and has programmed a series of concerts where we can play. The coming October the 25th we will offer a concert, together with other students and former students of Amparo, in the Cello Biënnale Amsterdam 2018. We are truly looking forward to it.

Díptic by the Catalan composer Joan Guinjoan is a work for eight cellos, composed in the year 2000, commissioned by Rencontres d’Ensembles de Violoncelles de Beauvais. It is a work of great beauty and complexity of which there is not yet any recording. Not without pride, we can say we will have the pleasure of facing a big challenge: recording Díptic with the label Columna Música. Being able to count on full confidence and support by J. Guinjoan gives us great satisfaction; without him and his work, we probably wouldn’t be here.

Nowadays four of the ensemble members live in Barcelona while the remaining four live in The Netherlands. This not only allows us to rehearse the Díptic by sections but also to expand our repertoire with works for cello quartet.

As an octet, we have mainly worked in Guinjoan’s piece, Díptic. Additionally, the quartets have played two more works. The quartet in Barcelona has been working on Quattro Tempi by the Dutch composer Daniël Ruyneman, while the quartet in The Netherlands has been given the exceptional opportunity to work an original piece with its composer: the Japanese composer Shigehiro Yamamoto traveled all the way from Japan to Mallorca to work, with four of us, his piece Shula. It is an uncommon privilege to be able to get inside a piece guided by its composer, having the means to explore and identify details that would have otherwise been inaccessible. We have learned where he got the inspiration for this piece and he has unveiled all the symbology and secrets behind it.

Next year, in addition to our participation in the Cello Biënnale, this project will take us to Los Angeles in Spring, thanks to Bongshin Ko - cellist and professor at the California State University Fullerton - who, after having met and listened to us, decided to program the Lluc Cello Ensemble. Furthermore, the Peter de Grote festival and its director Paul Komen have invited us to perform in a series of concerts next summer 2019 in Groningen.

How are we going to use your contributions

As you are well aware, traveling is not cheap, much less with a cello. In order to fly with our instrument, we need to purchase two seats: one for the cello and one for the cellist. Hence, every trip costs twice as much had we been traveling without cello. The money we receive through this crowdfunding will be used to defray our travel expenses and to offset part of the initial investment. We will be financing part of the travel costs and you can help out with the rest. How? By participating and contributing! Besides, you have many rewards from which to choose from!

About the rewards

You can achieve from the Lluc Cello Ensemble bag to our personalized pictures and postcards and even our recordings and private concerts, as well as cello or chamber music lessons or get into knowing the details hidden behind the pieces we have worked on.

Check all the options, there is one for you!

The recording cannot be found among the rewards because it has already been paid for and will be available once it is published. For more information, don't hesitate to contact us!

Events

• October 2018 - Concert Biennale Àmsterdam

• December 2018 - Recording: Díptic, J.Guinjoan

• April 2019 - Concert in Los Angeles

• Summer 2019 - Concert al Cicle de Joves Músics a Groningen

• During the last trimester of 2018 we will contact you to give or send you your rewards, or to schedule them in case of private concerts or recordings.

They rely on us...

Joan Guinjoan, Shigehiro Yamamoto, Columna Música, Amparo Lacruz, Bongshin Ko, Peter de Grote Festival, Cello Biennale Amsterdam 2018… are only a few of the people who believe in us and make this project possible. We are numerous and we will make it. Would you help us to take it even further?

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