Duo LAB51

LAB51 is an interdisciplinary duo founded in 2016 by Johanna Vargas and Magdalena Cerezo, with the aim of extending the contemporary repertoire for coloratura soprano and piano, and developing a new concept of Liedduo. In this context, both artists work together in order to intertwine vocal, multimedia and performance art with classical singing and piano playing within their projects and performances.

The collaboration between Johanna and Magdalena started during their contemporary music studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart under Prof. Angelika Luz and Prof. Nicolas Hodges, respectively. Since then, LAB51 has worked with composers such as Gerhard Stäbler, Johannes Kreidler, Bernhard Lang, Wolfgang Rihm, Hans-Joachim Hespos, Gregor Mayrhofer, Benjamin Scheuer, Hans Thomalla or Óscar Escudero & Belenish Moreno-Gil, and has received musical advice from world-class artists such as Sarah Maria Sun, Donatienne Michel-Dansac, Georg Nigl, Julia Mihály, Anika Rutkofsky (Stuttgart Opera House), Christian Dierstein or Hartmut Höll. Highlights from the 2018–19 season included engagements at NUNC!3 (Northwestern University Chicago), the New Music Series of Goethe Institut-Schwäbisch Hall, and ZeitGenuss Festival Karlsruhe, curated by Johannes Kreidler and alongside artists such as Ensemble Mosaik and Enno Poppe.

During the same period, the duo took part at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse für Neue Musik and won the first prize at the John Cage Competition in Halberstadt, Germany. During the season 2020–21, LAB51 was a featured ensemble of the Munich Society of New Music, performing at the portrait concert of composer and conductor Gregor Mayrhofer.

LAB51’s performances have been broadcasted internationally (Deutschlandfunk, RTVE, Radio Nacional Clásica Argentina, among others). A CD recording of Wolfgang Rihm’s »Ophelia Lieder« was released last year by Naxos-Capriccio. Since 2018, LAB51 coaches a program in contemporary voice training and performance and curates the concert/project series Out of the box at the University of Music Karlsruhe.