The Team

Described as a remarkable and sensitive performer with extraordinary technical mastery and a strong international presence, Claudia Besné performs as a soloist across Europe, promoting contemporary and lesser-known works. She has appeared at prestigious festivals such as the Quincena Musical de San Sebastián and Noia Harp Fest and participated in concert series like MusaE and Musiklasik. Notably, she premiered Aita Madina’s Harp Concerto with the Orquesta Andrés Egiguren and performed at the Norwegian Music Competition awards ceremony in Oslo. In addition to her solo career, Claudia collaborates with various chamber groups and orchestras, including the Malmö Opera, Rioja Filarmonia, and Female Symphonic Orchestra Austria. She is a member of Duo Boreal with guitarist Eva Calvo and Numea Duo with flutist Olmo Álvarez. Her numerous awards include the Nicanor Zabaleta Scholarship, the CH Study Scholarship, and 3rd Prize at the 6th International Harp Competition of the Slovenian Harp Association. She has been involved with Live Music Now Salzburg and performed with ensembles such as Philharmonie Salzburg, EGO, and JONDE. Claudia has received masterclasses from distinguished musicians including Cibrán Sierra, Isabelle Perrin, and Anneleen Lenaerts. Born in Donostia – San Sebastián in 1997, Claudia studied at the Conservatorio Francisco Escudero before joining Mozarteum University Salzburg, where she earned her Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Postgraduate degrees in Performance under Stephen Fitzpatrick. In 2022, she completed a Master’s in Music Pedagogy at UNIR. In addition to her artistic career, Claudia is dedicated to teaching, sharing her passion and expertise with the next generation of musicians.

Astrid Nyborg Berg is a young classical guitarist who also specializes in arrangement and composition. After leaving her home country of Norway to study the guitar with Prof. Göran Söllscher, she now works full time as a freelance musician based in Malmö, Sweden. Experiments with form and structure in the classical concert has been a red thread through projects such as the ensemble (o)MEGA-4, and concert concepts like “Tegnekonserter” and “Hvilepuls”. Astrid is both active as a solomusician and in groups such as Bacchus Gitarrkvartett, Ensemble Místico, Duo Nära and Lumis Ensemble. In 2021 she established Malmö Gitarrforum, and in 2024 she led the group’s most ambitious project in arranging a guitar festival in memoriam of Ida Presti’s 100 year anniversary. Her education in classical guitar performance started at Norges Musikkhøyskole, Oslo, and ended with a master’s degree from Malmö Musikhögskola, Lund University, 2021. During these years she studied with guitar teachers like Erik Stenstadvold, Geir-Otto Nillson, David Hanson, Gunnar Spjuth and Göran Söllcher. After this she also completed a postgraduate course in culture project development. As a composer she has completed a residency in the arctic city of Hammerfest, which resulted in an entire concert program inspired by the far north. Her music has been commissioned by Drammen Arts Festival, Kvinnelige Spor concert series and Duo Mardi. All of these different project has brought Astrid Nyborg Berg to big stages all over Scandinavia such as Malmö Live, DKDM Konsertsal, Tromsø Kulturhus, Uppsala Gitarrfestival and Helsingborg Gitarrfestival.

Natalie Schäfer is a German Czech composer, arranger, orchestrator, and musician who currently lives in Malmö, Sweden to whom visuals and music always belong together due to the synesthesia she experiences. She started composing at the age of 12, at the age of 16, she wrote her first arrangements. Her fascination for composition led her to studies in classical music theory and composition at the University of Music and Theatre Rostock with Prof. Dr. Dr. Lang and Prof. Wolf as well as Prof. Mathias Steinauer at Zürich University of the Arts. She took part in masterclasses with Prof. Dr. Sackmann (Zürich University of the Arts), Prof. Dr. Petersen (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz), Prof. Dr. Holtmeier (Freiburg University of Music), Prof. Dr. Sprau (Berlin University of the Arts) and Prof. Dr. Brandes (Universität Mozarteum Salzburg). Natalie Schäfer is holding a masters degree in honor in composition for film and media from Malmö Academy of Music. Currently she is studying classical composition at Malmö Academy of Music in the Composition Diploma (soloist) program. From November 19th to 23rd she participated the Discovery Campus „Music meets film“ in Tallinn (Estonia) which is part of the Industry@Tallinn&Baltic event and Black Night Film Festival 2024. From June to October 2024 she supported the short film project at the Rostock University of Music and Theater as a lecturer in ​​film music. Since October 2024 she is a lecturer in classical music theory and ear training at the Rostock University of Music and Theater. Her music has been awarded in international competitions.

First prize with special mention at the International Classical Music Stars Competition  – Composition 

Absolute Winner at the Bach International Music Competition (summer 2024) category Composition 

Diamond Prize at the 5th Georges Bizet International Music Competition – Film and Game Music 

Anna Carlén

Anna grew up in a family where music was always important and natural. Already as a child, she sang in choirs, played the saxophone in orchestras and played music together with family and friends. In her teens it was a natural choice to attend the music high school in Skövde, where she was first introduced to arranging and composing and immediately became fascinated by the subject. In 2020, she explored this newfound interest further and studied composition at Geijerskolans Folkhögskola. In 2021, she continued her studies at the composition program at Sankt Sigfrids folkhögskola where she studied for Hans Parment for two years. Today, Anna spends her time at the Malmö Academy of Music, studying for Rolf Martinsson and is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in classical composition. 

With her music, Carlén explores feelings and situations through choir and chamber music and hopes to make people experience passionate emotions and to be touched by the power of music in the same way she, herself is moved and captivated.

Amalia Garay Lukács (she/her) is a composer and piano teacher, graduated from the University of Chile as a student of Eleonora Coloma, who lives in Malmö, Sweden, where she is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Composition at the Malmö Academy of Music, Lund University. There she studies composition with Bent Sørensen and Staffan Storm. Her training ranges from chamber and orchestral music to electroacoustic music. Much of her development has been done working in interdisciplinary performances, collaborating with dance and theater companies in Chile, as well as with other creative collectives in Malmö and Lund. Aesthetically she develops from the technique of collage and the superimposition of textures, mixing aspects of her daily life with artistic inspirations to create new sound worlds that express what catches her attention. Some of her themes have been her experience migrating and living outside the country, which has deepened her connection with folk music, social justice and feminism, processes and parallels of nature and human life and historical events. She has collaborated with Musica Vitae String Orchestra, Swedish Wind ensemble, Norrköping orchestra, violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved, composer and pianist Andres Maupoint, cellist Elide Sulsentti, Ignis camerata vocal, Resonancia Femenina, Colectivo Azul, Duo K’anbul, Colectivo Herderas, theater director Andrea Giadach, among others. Some of her musical references are Bernd Alois Zimmerman, Kaija Saariaho, Björk, as well as exponents of Latin American Rock and Folk, such as Victor Jara, Violeta Parra, Chico Buarque, Luis Alberto Spinetta, among others.

Pauline Lunow was born in Berlin. After finishing school, she spent several years traveling through South America, mainly Argentina. From 2019 to 2024, she studied Composition at hmt Rostock with Prof. Peter Manfred Wolf. Now based in Graz, Austria, she has recently begun studying Transcultural Communication.

Sílvia Ferreira is a young multidisciplinary artist working across tapestry, painting, and illustration. With a degree in Visual Arts, she has participated in several exhibitions and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Lisbon. Her work is based on figuration, focusing particularly on the female body intertwined with gender issues such as menstrual poverty, the promotion of self-knowledge, and contraceptive methods. She draws inspiration from her life experiences as well as stories she hears and witnesses. She prefers water-soluble materials (an analogy to amniotic fluid) and textures, particularly using knitting and embroidery. The theme of feminism emerges in her work through the reading of reports, and documentaries, and through observation and introspection on events in her daily life or on topics that remain taboo. These include a lifestyle imposed from childhood, where men are expected to be virile, strong, and harsh, while women are expected to be delicate, housewives, and submissive. These themes, when represented through knitting, give them a distinctive character. The work of Sílvia Ferreira, would not be possible without error, exploration, trial, error, and a cyclical process where she continuously improves and creates works in an effort to explore and critique important gender-related issues.

Maria Inês Lourenço is a visual artist currently working between Mafra and Caldas da Rainha. She completed her degree in Communication Design at the António Arroio School of Arts. In 2021, she enrolled in the Visual Arts Bachelor’s degree program at ECATI of Lusófona University, where she began to produce a solid body of work in the field of oil painting, essentially focused on everyday objects and interiors, as well as self-portraiture. For the work she has been developing, she received several awards in 2022 and 2024 from Lusófona University, as well as two Merit Scholarships from the same institution in 2023 and 2024. Currently she’s pursuing a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts, at the Design Upper School of Arts and Design, at the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria. It is at this university that the artist begins to develop projects related to memory and trauma. She has been exhibiting collectively since 2019 and held her first solo exhibition in 2023.