The Rest Project, formed by Maria Florea, Lara Fernández and Daniel Claret, is an ensemble that talks about their concerns, mainly through music, but also using other elements such as text and movement. It is characterized by the shared creation of its concerts and by the limitless exploration in order to express what wants to be expressed.

The integration of the various disciplines by the three musicians gives the performers a different way of being on stage. The transmission of the artistic thought takes place through multiple channels, and the experience is lived as a whole unified journey. This integration, in addition, is transferred to the physical plane, and provides the group with a great adaptability to the spaces where it performs. Keeping its essence, for them, any house can be home.

The musical and human connection between us was born when we coincided in a Franz Schubert monographic program. A few months later, we decided to create The Rest Project, with a strong initial commitment to the rehearsal-in-residence format: meetings of several days, dedicated exclusively to us, in spaces specially designed for the occasion. During these shared stays, the musical and personal understanding grew enormously, exponentially enriching the creative process of this concert.

In The Rest Project, we play, we recite and we move. We integrate. In the case of movement, it is not dancing, but subtle displacements in the space that help us express a specific state. As for the texts, they are poetic and recited in English, French, Spanish or Catalan, depending on where we perform.

The proposal we are currently presenting, entitled The Rest is Silence, premiered in July 2023 at the XV Festival ClásicArnedillo in La Rioja (Spain), directed by the composer Tomás Garrido, and has performed and is scheduled to perform several concerts in the coming months.

  • Violin

    Born into a family of musicians and actresses, Maria began studying the violin at the age of four. She has studied at some of the most prestigious European schools, receiving classes from Gonçal Comellas, Zakhar Bron, György Pauk and Rainer Schimdt.

    As a soloist, she has played in emblematic halls all over Europe and China. Last October she performed at the Palau de la Música Catalana performing Mendelssohn's concerto.

    She collaborates with the Esbjerg Ensemble and Ensemble Bayona, as well as guest concertino at the OSV, the Vigo430 Orchestra and the Franz Schubert Philharmonia.

    She is part of "The Rest Project" and the Trio da Vinci, which in just five years has become one of the main emerging formations in the Catalan and Spanish musical scene.

  • Viola

    Born in Soria, she is the violist of the Cosmos Quartet and since 2018 has been a teacher of viola and chamber music at the Conservatory of Music of Aragon (CSMA).

    She began her viola studies with teachers such as Jensen Horn Sense Lam and Elena Pochekina in Madrid and continued them at the CSMA with Avri Levitan, Quartet Quiroga and Kennedy Moretti. She completed his master's studies at the Hochschule fur Musik "Hanns-Eisler" in Berlin with Volker Sprenger, Eberhard Feltz and Oliver Wille (Kuss Quartet).

    As a member of the quartet she has won first prizes in international competitions and her first CD "Influences" has received excellent reviews and they enjoy a successful concert career.

    She plays a viola by David Bagué (2019).

  • Cello

    Born in Barcelona, his references and people who have helped him evolve the most are Lluís Claret, Bernard Greenhouse and Julius Berger.

    His professional activity is developed in different directions. In recent years he has carried out personal projects that have contributed deeply to his growth, such as the Integral works for cello and piano by L. van Beethoven; “The Faith”, for solo cello, combining texts and music by György Kurtág with Suites by Bach, and The Rest Project, which in addition to words, includes movement in its concerts.

    He teaches cello at the Liceu Superior Conservatory of Music. He considers this activity an enormously enriching process.

    At the same time, he feels very fortunate to be part of Inventions and Highlands, shows of the creative group Mal Pelo that have allowed him to expand the possibilities in the interpretation, perception and understanding of music and the scene.