Belén Sánchez Pérez

Belén Sánchez Pérez was born in Valencia, Spain, in 1992. She completed her bachelor studies at the "Conservatorio Superior de Musica de Aragon" with Mayte Garcia and Fernando Arias. In October 2014, she began her master's studies, majoring in cello, at the University of Music Lübeck with Prof. Ulf Tischbirek, which she completed in 2018 with top grades.

Since 2015, she has been a Live Music Now e.V. scholarship holder with her DUO ALBA with pianist Valdez Fregoso. In 2015 she was principal cellist in the orchestra of the Teatro del Lago in Chile. In the 2016/2017 season she was an intern with the "Philharmonic Orchestra of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck".

Since 2016 she has been playing as a cellist in the orchestra of the Eutin Festival. In 2017 she won the academy with the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra and at the same time the audition as a substitute in the Orquesta del Palau de la Musica de Valencia.

In 2018 she won a temporary contract for the 2018/19 season with the Schleswig-Holstein Symphony Orchestra. Since 2020, she has been a member of the "Hamburg Stage Ensemble", with whom she performs in various halls in Germany, including the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Laeiszhalle, the Glocke in Bremen, Philarmonie in Berlin, Gewandhaus in Leipzig, etc. She also plays as a cellist in the "Opernloft im Alten Fährterminal Altona" in Hamburg.

As a freelance musician she realizes numerous successful projects with her piano duo DUO ALBA as well as with her cello duo "DUOloncello".

Hermann Valdez Fregoso

After a bachelor's degree at the School of Music of the National Institute of Fine Arts in Mexico City and a stopover at the Academy Musikeon in Valencia, Hermann Fabian Valdez Fregoso studied at the University of Music Lübeck with Prof. Konrad Elser since 2014. He graduated in June 2019 with a Master's degree majoring in piano.

His other teachers include Fernando García Torres and, in chamber music, Inge-Susann Römhild and Ana María Tradatti. He has participated in numerous master classes with renowned international pianists. Hermann Valdez has been awarded numerous prizes, including the prize of the National Piano Competition in Mexico City (2012) for the best interpretation of Bach and the second prize of the National Piano Competition Monterrey (2014).

Already in his early twenties, he performed as a soloist with the Orquestra Sinfónica de las Artes Sinaloa under the direction of Charles Ketcham and Gordon Campell. He also regularly performs piano recitals, recitals and chamber music concerts in major concert halls in Germany, Mexico and Spain.

In 2015, he founded DUO ALBA with Spanish cellist Belén Sánchez Pérez. The permanent duo performs regularly in northern Germany.

He regularly organizes chamber music concerts in Lübeck, where he plays with various ensembles. With the oboist Sergio Sánchez, with the cellist Daniel Arias, with the violist Erika Cedeño and others.