Carla Peña Romero is a passionate cellist with a deep vocation for chamber music. Born in Barcelona and currently resides in The Hague, she has performed as a chamber musician in numerous prominent venues and festivals across Europe, including Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw (Amsterdam), L’Auditori (Barcelona), Casa da Música (Porto), Palau de la Música (Barcelona) and Fundación Juan March (Madrid), among others. Throughout her formative years, Carla has been the recipient of several scholarships awarded by foundations such as Stichting Young Musical Talents” in the Netherlands, Jeunesses Musicales Internationales Deutschland, the French foundation ADAMI, and FNAPEC in France.
Having discovered early on her strong calling for chamber music, Carla has embarked in various ensemble projects throughout the years. She is a founding member of Trio Jakob (founded in Barcelona in 2014), together with whom she has won prizes in international competitions across Europe in countries such as Spain, France, Andorra and Italy, and with whom she has had concerts broadcast by radios Catalunya Música and RTP-Antena 2. She was also part of the Azalaïs Quartet between 2018 and 2022, with whom she performed in TivoliVredenburg (Utrecht). Having performed side by side with musicians such as Kai Gleusteen, Chris Duindam, Christophe Weidmann and Catherine Ordronneau, as well as with the Orquestra de Guitarres de Barcelona in the quality of soloist, Carla has presented herself in various festivals, including the HARMOS Festival (Porto), Cello Biennale (Amsterdam), Sona Mollet Festival (Barcelona), Prisma Poliedric Festival (Italy) and the Aurora Festival (Groningen).
Together with cellist Amparo Lacruz, Carla can be heard the octect “Díptic” in the album “In Memoriam” (2019), released by Columna Música and featuring music by Catalan Composer Joan Guinjoan. Her collaborations with living artists, which extended beyond the realm of composition with her participation in the soundtrack of Sergei Loznitsa’s documentary “The Invasion” (2024) about the Ukraine war, include composers such as Leo Brower, Octavi Rumbau and Kenji Yamamoto.
Carla pursued her studies at the Conservatori del Liceu with Amparo Lacruz and continued her training at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with Michel Strauss and Jan-Ype Nota.
Driven by her deep commitment to making art and music accessible to everyone, in 2021 she founded Pandora Studio, a cultural space in The Hague, where she maintains a cello class and organizes a variety of cultural activities with the goal of creating a large artistic community, where lovers of music the arts can experience different artistic disciplines and connect with other people in the city.
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