Mara Tieles Cutie
Viola
Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba

Mara Tieles Cutie was born in La Habana, Cuba. She began her musical studies in 1991 in the “Manuel Saumell” Conservatory with the professors Evelio Tieles and Maria Verdecia. In 2000 she started at the Conservatory “Amadeo Roldan” where she formed part of a “Talent Program” and graduated with distinctions.

In 2002 she moved to Barcelona, Spain, to study in the Conservatory of the Liceo. In 2006 she was accepted in the Rotterdam’s Conservatory, Codarts where she studied with the acclaimed Dutch violinist Cristiaan Bor, and also took lessons with Professor Gordan Nikolic. She was closely involved with the World Music Department taking tango violin lessons with the renowned violinist Micha Molthoff.  Since 2009 she has been a viola student of Julia Dinerstein at the Maastricht Conservatorium.  In 2005 she won the third prize in the Iberoamerican Violin Competition held in La Habana, Cuba.  In 2010 she won first prize with Charanga 214 at the “Latin Fanatics Competition”.

She has worked with important violinists including Grigori Zhislin (international soloist, violin Professor at the Royal College of Music, and visiting professor in Würzburg, Germany), Alla Voronkova (international soloist), Alexander Melnikov (soloist, and violin teacher in Helsinki, Finland), Evgenia Epshtein (member of “Aviv String Quartet”), and Corrado Bolsi (member of the “Trio Kandinsky”, violin teacher in the Conservatory of the Liceo, Barcelona, Spain).

Mara has played in youth orchestras in Poland, France, Germany, Italy (“Pergine Spettacolo Aperto” in Trento, Italy), The World Orchestra of Jeuneses Musicales, and the Netherlands (Netherlands Youth Orchestra) as principal viola.

In 2002 she participated with the Orquesta del Valles in Barcelona. She was also concertmaster of the Liceo Conservatory Symphony Orchestra from 2002 until 2004.  From 2003 to 2007 she performed with the Chamber Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of Vila Seca, Spain. She has been a member of the Mendelssohn Orchestra and the Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra in The Netherlands. She is currently playing with Continuo Orkest, Laurens Cantorij, Muzenval Orchestra and Sinfonia Rotterdam.

Mara is a member of the StringLab Quartet, Erato String Quartet, Charanga 214, Duo Prismas and also collaborates with Orquesta Tipica OTRA, playing in different venues such as the Tango Festival Doble Ocho (Nijmegen), Dunya Festival (Rotterdam), La Carriere de Normandoux (Poitiers, France) Dutch Embassy in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), making television appearances in the Paul de Leeuw Show, Opium Tv  (NPS), and Moois (Tv Rijnmond).  Mara Tieles also collaborates as an organizer of 'Club del Tango' series at the World Music and Dance Centre in Rotterdam. 

Pedro Manuel Zayas Aleman
Violin
Holguin, Cuba

Pedro Manuel Zayas was born in Holguin, Cuba in 1985. He started his musical studies in 1993 at the Vocational School of Arts in Holguin under the tutelage of professor Hector Barrientos. In 1997, Mr. Zayas won the second prize at the first Ibero-American competition “Amadeo Roldan” in Havana.

Pedro M. Zayas was part of the Holguin Conservatory Chamber Orchestra as a cellist, violist, and violinist from 2000 to 2003. In 2003, Mr. Zayas won the 3rd prize at the Jose White International violin competition and in 2004 he graduated with honors from the Holguin Conservatory.

Mr. Zayas received a Bachelor Degree in Music Performance from the Instituto Superior de Artes in Havana in 2010, also with honors. Mr. Zayas has participated in the Havana Contemporary Music Festival, and Havana Chamber Music Festival.

Mr. Zayas is presently the concertmaster of the Holguin Symphony Orchestra and the Holguin Chamber Orchestra. He is currently working on a chamber music project with prominent Cuban pianist Maestro Frank Fernandez.