ABOUT US
The Cuarteto Matrice was born in 2016 in Madrid, the city where the musicians met and are currently based and developing their career with the ensemble, always having the objective of communicating with the audience through the different languages of music and performance. The name of the quartet itself comes from the ancient name of the city of Madrid, Matrice, an Arabic term for “mother of waters''.
The members of the quartet have studied at some of the main musical institutions in Europe, such as the Royal Academy of Music of London, Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía, the Royal Conservatory of Madrid or Katarina Gurska Centre in Madrid. They have attended several masterclasses with the Kopelman Quartet’s violist Igor Sulyga.
The Quartet have recently performed at some festivals across Spain as the RESIS Festival in A Coruña, Clásicos en Verano in Madrid, Sulayr Festival in Granada and FIAS Festival (Sacred Art Madrid Music Festival), where they performed the world premier of the Cuarteto nº2 by Hugo Gómez-Chao, a piece dedicated to the quartet, having great reviews from both musical press and media. The four musicians of Cuarteto Matrice have also been selected for the Musae Program promoted by the National Cultural Ministry, a project where they performed at the Sorolla National Museum and brought them a Spanish music concert series residency with the sponsorship of CNP Partners.
Cuarteto Matrice have recently performed at many cities all around Spain, such as Barcelona, Bilbao and Sevilla, including remarkable venues and music halls like, Teatro Fernando de Rojas, Círculo de Bellas Artes and Athenaeum in Madrid and also Moncloa Palace, house of the Spanish Government, where they performed in 2021 as part of an homage act holded by the Spanish Arts Ministry. They have been selected as part of the MERITA platform 2023 organized by Le Dimore del Quartetto, a program that will take them to an artistic residence in Florence in 2024 as well several concerts across Europe during the current season 2024-2025.
Elina Sitnikava, Violin
Born in Minsk. She is the winner of the XII Henryk Wieniawski International Competition for Young Violinists in Lublin, Poland, the XXVII International Competition in Capellades, Barcelona, Spain, and other International Competitions in Spain, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus.
Elina begins her musical studies at the Belarusian State University Music School. Then she moved to Madrid to carry out her higher and master degrees in the The Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid with maestro Zakhar Bron.
She performed in the best halls in Spain (Auditorium of Barcelona, Madrid National Auditorium, Palau de la Música of Barcelona , Auditorium of Zaragoza, Pau Casals Auditorium in Vendrell and etc.), In England (Cadogan Hall, The National Gallery London and etc.) As well as she has performed in Germany, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Belarus, Moldova, the United States and other countries. Colaborating with National Spanish Orchestra and Madrid Symphony Orchestra (Opera Royal Theater).
In 2018 was released the album “Jewish & Gypsy sounds”, recorded by Elina in collaboration with the Canarian pianist Miguel Ángel Dionis. She has also made recordings for Belarusian National Radio and Television, Hungarian Television and Spanish National Radio and Television.
As a soloist, she has performed on numerous occasions with ensembles such as the Belarusian Chamber Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra, the Lviv Symphony Orchestra (Ukraine), the Spanish Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of Promusica and Unicaja , the Eduard Toldra Orchestra (Spain) and the European Symphony Orchestra. Elina is actively involved in different cycles and festivals on the national and international platforms, such as the cycle of Chamber Music Interpreters of the National Auditorium of Madrid, "Nits de Cassics" of Catalonia, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival (Germany), Interlaken Classics (Switzerland) , Schnittke International Music Festival (Russia) or the Castleton Music Festival (USA)
She the invited professor of the summer course "Summer Cump" of the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía. She is currently the assistant of concertmaster in the Orchestra of Community of Madrid.
Alicia Navidad, Violin
She begings her musical studies at the age of six with his father, Luis Navidad. She later continued his training at the “Arturo Soria” Professional Conservatory in Madrid, finishing with honors in Chamber Music and Piano Repertoire. She completed her violin studies at the Royal Conservatory of Music of Madrid with teachers Manuel Guillén and Víctor Martín, where she finished with outstanding grades. She obtained her Master's degree in Solo Performance with Mariana Todorova at the “Katarina Gurska” Higher School of Music.
She was one of the founders of the Nebra Quartet, named institutional quartet representative of the Royal Conservatory of Music of Madrid, where she developed her chamber music training with professor Joaquín Torre and the Quiroga Quartet. She is also a founding member of the Ars Íntima Musical Association.
Participant in numerous international courses, she has received master classes from violinists such as Hans-Werner Mehling, Valeria Nasushkina, Igor and Vesna Gruppman, Polina Kotliarskaya, Mariana Todorova, Radu Blidar, Kathrin ten Hagen, Andras Zifras, Ara Malikian, Stephan Picard, Silvia Marcovici, Shirly Laub, Roswitha Randacher, Elisabeth Kropfitsch or Birgit Kolar.
She has been a member of young orchestras such as the National Youth Orchestra of Spain (JONDE) or the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester (GMJO), as well as working with important conductors such as Eliahu Inbal, Lutz Köhler, Daniel Meyer, George Phelivanian, David Afkham, Juanjo Mena, Lorenzo Viotti or Pinchas Steinberg, among others.
She currently participates in the Spanish Radio Television Orchestra (ORTVE) and the National Orchestra and Choir of Spain (OCNE) and she regularly collaborates with the Barbieri Symphony Orchestra (BSO), the Spanish Philharmonic Orchestra (OFE), the Opus 23 Orchestra or the Orchestra of the Kingdom of Aragon (ORA).
Berta Herrero, Viola
She begings her musical studies at the Teresa Berganza Conservatory in Madrid, continuing at the Royal Conservatory of Music of Madrid, where she obtained the Higher Degree in Viola Performance under the tutelage of teachers Thuan do Minh Dao, Luis Llacer and Alan Kovacs. Throughout her training period she has taken numerous courses and master classes with teachers such as José Manuel Román or Igor Sulyga.
Professionally she has been a member and collaborated with multiple orchestras, the Santa Cecilia Classical Orchestra, the Mediterranean Philharmonic Orchestra, the Barbieri Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestra, the Academic Orchestra of Madrid, the Spanish Philharmonic Orchestra and the City of Guadalajara Orchestra.
She has worked with prestigious conductors such as Guy Braunstein, Kynan Johns or Grzegorz Nowak, performing at festivals such as the Zurich International Orchestra Series in London and in venues such as the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, the Teatro Real, Palau de la Música in Barcelona Cadogan Hall in London or the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.
A lover of Chamber Music, she is currently a member of the Matrice string quartet, performing in numerous prestigious concerts and festivals such as Resis Festival (A Coruña), Clásicos en Verano (Community of Madrid) or the International Festival of Sacred Art (FIAS). of the Community of Madrid.
She regularly participates in musical recordings for films and albums as a solo viola player, also making recordings for various RTVE or BBC programs.
Very interested in the cultural and musical spreading, she has been the voice of the Clásica FM Radio team, where among other collaborations she has presented and directed the program “Clásica 2.0”.
She currently combines her career as a performer with her pedagogical career. She is the Viola teacher at the Alameda Official Music School Conservatory as well as the teacher in the Alameda International School Orchestra Project. She has a Master's Degree in Teacher Training in the specialty of Music from the International University of Valencia.
Ana Laura Iglesias, Violoncello
She is a cellist, communicator and pedagogue. She develops her professional activity in these three artistic areas, always having as a fundamental objective the communication of classical music.
Born in Avilés, Asturias, she is Master of Arts at the Royal Academy of Music of London, where she studied under the generous support of María Cristina Masaveu Peterson Foundation. She also has graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid.
She currently develops her pedagogical career as the coordinator of the artistic project CAOS at Alameda International School (Madrid) where she is also the pedagogical director and cello teacher at the Alameda Music School (EMA). She has been guest teacher at the Montalegre Junior Music Festival (Portugal).
As a performer, Ana Laura is the cellist of the Cuarteto Matrice since 2016, and she regularly is also the presenter of the quartet’s concerts as a way of bringing the chamber repertoire closer to the audience. They have performed in festivals such as Clásicos en Verano Festival (Madrid), RESIS Festival (A Coruña), Sacred Art Festival of the Community of Madrid (FIAS), Círculo de Bellas Artes, Sorolla Museum, Basilica of Santa María del Pi de Barcelona, Fundación Olivar de Castillejo, Classijazz de Almería or the Tapestry Room of the Palacio de la Moncloa, home of the Spanish Government. Ana Laura has also performed recitals in music halls like the Gijón Philharmonic Society or the Cuenca Auditorium with Colomé Trío, as well as at the Avilés Philharmonic Society and the Botín Foundation of Santander together with the pianist Itzíar Aguirre.
Her passion for spreading classical music led her in 2014 to co-found Clásica FM, the first online podcasting platform for classical music in Spain. He has also collaborated with different media such as Radio del Principado de Asturias, and has participated with talks and speeches at the Music Forums of the Getafe Symphony Orchestra or the Decide Tu Futuro conferences, organized by Innova Música. She is currently a presenter on Canal March's live broadcasts of the Juan March Foundation's Young Performers cycle. In addition, he has been a speaker at TEDxGijón 2016, coach at TEDxYouth@PaseodelPrado 2016 and speaker at the EAE Business School's EAE Talks 2018 held at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid.