BIOGRAPHY
Laia Montserrat (1996) is a disciple of the legendary violinist Viktor Tretyakov and Prof. Natalia Likhopoi.
She made her Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 14.
In 2016 she was described by the German critic Mrs. Oschmann as of an"incredible intensity and passion" in the General-Anzeiger newspaper of Bonn, stating that she seemed to "merge with her violin” "shine to music”.
She has won first prizes in national and international competitions in the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Paris, Luxembourg, Romania and the United States (New York) such as the European Competition in Luxembourg, where she won the Special Prize. She has also performed numerous concerts in the aforementioned countries and others such as: France, Germany, Montenegro, Austria, Croatia, Luxembourg …
In 2017 she was the cover image in the magazine "This is London" for its New Year edition.
She is currently recording a CD of the Concerto for violin in D minor, op. 47 of Jean Sibelius with the London Symphony Orchestra; it is in the production phase, while the second part is still pending.
Born in Barcelona (Catalonia), she began to play the violin at the age of six with Professor Alexander Polonski. At ten she moved to Germany after being accepted at the "High Performance Bonn Prodigious Children School" to study with Prof. Sergey Fatkulin. And continued her studies with Prof. Sergey Teslya.
At eleven she won first prize in the Musical Youth of Soller contest (2007) playing the Mendelssohn violin concerto. The members of the jury were so impressed by her performance that they decided to increase the prize.
Her debut at the Carnegie Hall in New York in 2010 was accompanied that same year by several first prizes in Paris, Romania (Remember Enescu Competition), where she won the special "Pro-Memoria-Enescu" award, and in the World International Competition, where she was awarded as “the most distinguished violinist” and with the "Sibelius Special Mention". The comments of the jury were:
- • "This was one of the very few performances that was enjoyable in a way that I was not listening to a jury performance but to a real performance, great girl !, great performer, lots of potential [...] Brava altogether very passional and with temperament […] Lot s of fantasy in her performance and very mature for such a young age. We hope to hear [her] again soon in the near future [...] Nice sound, very musical from the beginning [...] She is a musical person wich is very important [...] "
Maestro Marcello Abbado wanted to reward her with a master class on which occasion he said:
- • "Laia is a very great talent ... With Laia the violin speaks ... I think it is not possible to remember the Sibelius Violin Concerto after Laia's performance, of course!”
In 2011 she continued her studies in London with Prof. I. Petrushevski until 2013. During those years she toured the United States as a soloist (April-May 2012) which led her to perform at the University of Virginia, the University from New York and again at Carnegie Hall in New York.
Between February-June 2013 she won twelve first prizes in England. That same year she recorded a documentary for the public television in Catalonia, "Canal 33", also played for the BBC Radio and for the public television in Spain (for its first and second channels, TVE1 and TVE2 respectively).