Born in Turin in 2003, Maria Clara began studying cello at the age of five. Among her first masters are Luca Simoncini and Massimo Macrì.
Decisive is the meeting, at only 15 years old, with Antonio Meneses, who selects her for the advanced courses at the Walter Stauffer Academy in Cremona. In 2023 she obtained the Stauffer Artist Diploma.
From 2024 she continues her studies in the same academy with Frans Helmerson.
Student of the Accademia Chigiana since 2021 under the guidance of Antonio Meneses, she obtained the diploma of Merit and was recently selected for the project “Young Italian Musical Talents in the World", in collaboration with CIDIM.
At only 17 years old, she is admitted for special merits to the Bachelor of Arts in Music in the class of Asier Polo at the Conservatory of Italian Switzerland where she graduated in 2024.
Since 2012 she has been awarded in national and international competitions. Most important are: first prize at the Verão Classic Festival Award in Lisbon in 2023, first prize at the New Year's Competition in Vienna in 2022, with her debut as a soloist with the Wiener StadtOrchester, performing Elgar Cello Concerto; in 2021 first prize at the G. Mahler Cello Competition and first prize à l’unanimité at the Cap Ferret International Competition; in 2020 first prize at the Paris International Competition, with debut at the Wiener Saal of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and first prize at the King's Peak International Competition; in 2019 second prize at the Antonio Vivaldi International Competition in Vienna; in 2017 first prize at the 18º Valsesia Musica Juniores International Competition.
Maria Clara debuted very young, at just 10 years old, as a soloist with the Leopold Mozart Sinfonietta as part of the Atelier Giovani project promoted by the Unione Musicale of Turin.
Since then she performs as a soloist and in chamber formations for several concert seasons in Italy and abroad.
She has attended masterclasses Frans Helmerson (Kronberg Academy and Verão Classic Festival) Mischa Maisky, Steven Isserlis, Sol Gabetta (Accademia Stauffer), Jérôme Pernoo, Mario Brunello, Peter Bruns, Troels Svane.
She currently performs on a Luiz Amorim cello made in Cremona in 2024.
