B i o g r a p h y
The Duo Mayr-CelisCatalán, which dedicates itself to classical music, consists of cellist Maria Lydia Mayr (Austria) and guitarist Felipe Celis Catalán (Chile). It was founded in 2018 during their studies at the University Mozarteum Salzburg in Austria.
The duo's goal is to offer the audience a unique repertoire with this special line-up, specially arranged by Maria and Felipe, aiming to fascinate the audience in concert through virtuosity and different emotions. Their repertoire is very diverse and includes music from four centuries.
They are currently presenting their third concert programme dedicated to works by W. A. Mozart, Isaac Albéniz, Béla Bartók, Martin Berteau and Astor Piazzolla. The works and the musical arrangements of their first and second concert program have been chosen in an attempt to highlight the great harmonic variety, the rhythmic richness and the unmistakable temperament of romantic and modern music.
"Lioren - Lights of South America" is the name of their first CD production, which presents works by Astor Piazzolla, Gentil Montaña, Manuel Yánez, Dominguinhos, Ernesto Nazareth, Javier Contreras and Horacio Salinas.
The Duo Mayr-CelisCatalán has already performed in various cities in Europe and South America in concert halls, at music festivals and artistic events.
Felipe Celis Catalán
Felipe Celis Catalán was born in Santiago de Chile. As a soloist, Felipe has performed concerts and taught as a guest professor in some of the most prestigious concert venues in Chile, as well as in Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Peru, Spain, Italy, Scotland, Czech Republic, Greece, England and Austria. Since autumn 2022, Felipe has been working as a professor of guitar at the Tiroler Landeskonservatorium in Austria.
Felipe is currently releasing his first and second solo albums for MINCAP in Chile. The first CD, entitled "New Chilean Music", is dedicated to outstanding Chilean composers who wrote the works especially for this CD production. The second, "Antiqua", was recorded in the oldest church in Austria and is dedicated to music of the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical-Romantic periods.
He is currently working with the renowned composer Javier Contreras on a method for classical guitar for ZER Publishing, which will include 12 concert etudes and their 33 technical solutions in the form of preludes and etudes.
In 2016 he completed his Master of Arts (Classical Guitar) at the University Mozarteum Salzburg in Austria, and in 2018 he finished his postgraduate studies at the same institution. For both studies, he received a scholarship for artistic excellence awarded by the National Council of Culture and Arts of Chile
Previously, Felipe studied concert guitar and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with highest honours from the University of Chile. He also earned a degree in Education and Pedagogy from the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación in Chile, where he graduated with unanimous honours.
Felipe plays on guitars by Paco Santiago Marín, Walter Verreydt and Carlos López.
Since 2019, Felipe has been the artistic director of the non-profit foundation Rise with Arts - Arts and Education for All.
Maria Lydia Mayr
Maria Lydia Mayr was born in Linz, Austria. She has given concerts in Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Bosnia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and Chile.
She completed her Bachelor's and Master's degree under the guidance of cellist Susanna Ehn-Riebl at the University Mozarteum in Salzburg. In 2015/16 she studied abroad for a year at the Conservatorio di musica Giuseppe Tartini in Trieste, Italy.
At the age of five she began to learn the cello with Anna Kiesenhofer and later Elisabeth Ragl. Maria won numerous first prizes at music competitions, both as a soloist and in the chamber music category. At the international competition All That Guitar in Loutraki (Greece) she won first place in the chamber music category.
Maria has attended master classes with Stefan Tittgen, Enrico Bronzi, Alvaro Pierri, Eliot Fisk, Heidi Litschauer, Dalena Roux, Giovanni Gnocchi, Tobias Stosiek, Detlef Mielke, Matthias Bartolomey, Susanne Paul, Peter Herbert, Angela Paynter and Peter Somodari.
In 2012 Maria was principal cellist in a concert series for young talents in collaboration with the Bruckner Orchestra Linz. Between 2013 and 2016 she was principal cellist of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Upper Austria, with whom they recorded Bruckner's 6th and 8th Symphonies for Gramola. In 2017 she performed with the Junge Philharmonie Niedersachsen under the direction of Andreas Schüller.
2021 Maria played regularly with the Bruckner Orchestra Linz.
She plays a cello built by the Italian luthier Sergio Scaramelli.
Since 2019, Maria has been the chairwoman of the non-profit association "Rise with Arts - Art and Education for All". The aim of the association is to provide children from highly problematic social backgrounds with lessons in various areas of the arts.
October 2022
©Duo Mayr-CelisCatalán