La Traditora
ENSEMBLE
Ensemble La Traditora
Renaissance & Baroque Music
La Traditora was founded in 2010 by three talented young musicians who had graduated from the prestigious school for early music “Schola Cantorum Basiliensis”. They have performed at Festivals throughout Europe, the USA and South America, collaborating with renowned early music ensembles including La Cetra Barockorchester Basel, Concerto Scirocco, Ensemble L’Art du Bois, Il Profondo, Duo Marti-Vicens and Per Far Lieto, and have performed with well-respected soloists like Andrea Marcon, Dominique Vellard, Paolo Pandolfo, Rolf Lislevand, Hopkinson Smith, Jordi Savall, William Christie, Pierre Hamon, and Gottfried von der Goltz.
Their successful Swiss debut was applauded with standing ovations, and since then, they have committed themselves to a dynamic interaction with their audience; their performances are full of virtuosity, color and playful confrontation.
Having different cultural backgrounds - French, Catalan and Chilean - Amélie Chemin (bass and treble viol), Maria Ferré (lutes, early guitars and theorbo) and Catalina Vicens (historic percussion, organ and harpsichord) have integrated their diversity into a common language of intensity, sensuality and humor.
La Traditora offers a vast range of renaissance and baroque music, which showcases their spontaneous musicianship. They also collaborate with prestigious guest musicians and dancers, which further enriches the diversity of their programs.
Members
Amélie Chemin - viols & baroque cello
Amélie was born in Le Mans, France. She completed her undergraduate studies of the cello and chamber music in Caen and Lyon with honors. Later she became deeply interested in the viola da gamba and decided to study with Jérôme Hantaï and Emmanuelle Guigues in Lyon. In 2003, she moved to Basel where she studied at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Paolo Pandolfo, graduating in 2008. At the same time she studied baroque cello with Petr Skalka and renaissance viol and fiddle with Randall Cook. In 2008 she taught herself to play the arpeggione (a guitar-cello instrument)
performing the famous Schubert Sonata «Arpeggione» at the Gruyères Festival. She has taken masterclasses with Marianne Muller, Jordi Savall, Philippe Pierlot and Vittorio Ghielmi. Since 2003 she has participated in projects led by W. Christie, T. Koopmann, J. Savall, A. Marcon, P. Pandolfo, J. Rifkin, J. Christensen, B. Dickey, A. Rooley, V. Genaux and H. M. Linde, amongst others. Currently she is a member of many ensembles such as «La Cetra Barockorchester
Basel», «Opera Prima», «Opera musica», «Concerto Scirocco», «Ensemble Mare Nostrum», and is a founding member of the continuo ensemble «Il Profondo» and «Ensemble La Traditora». Amélie has performed in Europe, Turkey and Colombia and has recorded for the labels Deutsche Grammophon, Ricercar, Tactus, ORF, and Glossa.
Maria Ferré - lutes, theorbo & early guitars
Maria Ferré was born in Riudoms, Catalonia. She completed her studies in classical guitar at the Barcelona Conservatory. She went on to study early plucked instruments with Antoni Baiget. Later she moved to Germany to continue her studies of the lute with Rolf Lislevand in Trossingen, where she obtained a Master in Lute. In 2003, Maria settled in Basel (Switzerland), where she continued her studies at the ‘Schola Cantorum Basiliensis’ under Hopkinson Smith. With her Ensemble L’Art du Bois’ she has won several competitions (The Hague, Genova, Göttingen, Bruges), and was awarded the ‘best continuo player’ of 2006 in The Hague.
She has attended masterclasses and courses with several prestigious musicians, such as J.Savall, J.Tubery, M.Figueras, and Ch.Rousset. Maria has participated in festivals, opera productions and recordings in Europe and America, where she has performed both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. She has been a member of other ensembles, such as the duo M&M-Dominique Vellard, the Ensemble la Traditora, Freiburger Spielleyt, VEZ, Turicum and Bassorum Vox. She has worked with orchestras including Armonico Tributo, La Cetra Basel (dir. Andrea Marcon) and an Early Opera Company (dir. Christian Curnyn), and has performed in the Opernhaus Frankfurt, Wigmore Hall London, Stadt Theater St. Gallen and Theater Basel. Maria teaches lute and guitar in St. Gallen and Birsfelden (Switzerland).
She has taught masterclasses in Norway, Spain, Germany, Switzerland and the USA.
Catalina Vicens - organ, harpsichord & historic percussion
Catalina was born in Santiago de Chile. She studied harpsichord at the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, with Lionel Party, the Musikhochschule Freiburg with Prof. Robert Hill and at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Basel, with Andrea Marcon. Masters degrees followed in Medieval Keyboards with Corina Marti at the same institution and a Masters in Contemporary Music Performance on historical instruments at the Hochschule für Musik, Basel. She also took courses in historic and traditional percussions with Pedro Estevan, Michael Metzler, Glen Velez, Madjid Khaladj, and Carlo Rizzo amongst others. She has performed in important venues such as the Theater Basel (Switzerland), Semperoper (Dresden), Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), Kimmel Center (Philadelphia), Teatro Municipal
(São Paulo), Palace of the Arts (Budapest) under the direction of well-known conductors such as Gottfried von der Goltz, Andrea Marcon, Joseph Silverstein, Otto-Werner Müller and J. Manuel Quintana. Catalina won the first prize at the International Historic Keyboards Competition “Fritz Neumeyer”, Germany. She performs as a soloist and as a member of ensembles of medieval, renaissance, baroque and new music in Europe, South America and the USA, including Duo Marti–Vicens, Per Far Lieto, La Traditora, La Cetra
Barockorchester Basel, Marc Mauillon & Pierre Hamon ensemble, Servir Antico and Mediva. Catalina has been broadcast on the radio in the USA, Germany, Chile and Switzerland and has given lectures and
masterclasses in central Europe, Great Britain and South America.