
Maria
Portela
Larisch
Soprano
After piano and violin lessons, Maria Portela Larisch was accepted into the children's choir of the Theatre of La Monnaie at the age of eight.
​
She soon received her first singing lessons from Eunice Arias before starting to study at the IMEP (Namur, Belgium) in 2015.
​
Since 2018, Maria Portela Larisch has been studying at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln with Prof. Christoph Prégardien, where she finished her Master in Lied in 2022. She is a founding member of Gilu and has a special love for improvisation, new music and improvisation.
​
She received the Richard Wagner Verband Köln scholarship in 2019 and has also been a member of the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now association in Cologne since this year.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Having time to read, to think, to stop and not do anything, surrounded by loved ones.
What is your greatest fear?
The death of people I love
Which talent would you most like to have?
Being able to change myself into any animal I would like
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
A music instrument played by a sweet musician
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Slavery and torture
What do you most value in your friends?
Their generosity
Your favourite colour?
The blue the water reflects
How would you like to die?
Old but still healthy of body and mind with loved ones near me
A ritual before singing a concert?
I like listening to the song “Practical arrangement” sung by Anne Sofie von Otter with Brooklyn Rider
What helps against stage fright?
The confidence to know that one has done everything one could to be as prepared as possible