Amaia Bàrcena

Amaia Bàrcena studied singing at the Escuela Superior de Canto (Spain) and with Helmut Lips at the Musik Hochshule in Stuttgart (Germany), specialising in Lied and Oratorio. She has attended masterclasses by Wilfried Jochens, Max van Egmond, William Christie, Emma Kirkby and Nancy Argenta.

In 1997 she moved to London to follow a postgraduate course in Early Music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She is now permanently resident in London. She is co-director of Aurea Lyra, an ensemble specialising in early Spanish music, and is in great demand as a German Lied and Spanish song recitalist.

Amaia has performed with Circa 1500 (Nancy Hadden) and Philomela (Eligio Quinteiro) in the UK and Gabinete Armònico in Spain, appearing in several music festivals. She made her operatic debut in Madrid (Mozart's Magic Flute) and has also been invited to sing as a soloist in oratorios such as Jephte (Carissimi), Messiah (Handel) and Bach's Passions. Her forthcoming projects include recordings in 2005 of Sacred music by the Baroque Spanish composer Diego Duròn with Philomela.