Lucia Capellaro's musical language is rooted in historically informed performance, but in recent years she has been exploring her own voice as an artist, taking influences from far beyond this realm by weaving in Scottish folk, improvised practices, world music, and electronic elements into her performances. 

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Throughout her career, Lucia has been offered the opportunity to play incredible historical instruments, including what is thought to be Scotland's oldest surviving cello. Read more about it in BBC News HERE, and The Strad, HERE. 

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Praised for her ‘rich-toned viola da gamba and cello’ playing, she has performed across the globe with early music ensembles such as Dunedin Consort, RSNO, English Touring Opera’s Old Street Band, Academy of Ancient Music, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Concerto Copenhagen, Ex Cathedra, Early Opera Company, Instruments of Time and Truth, La Serenissima and Hanover Band. She regularly performs and records with Dunedin Consort, with multiple guest principal appearances, including live recordings on BBC radio 3, and a tour to the USA. As a soloist she has performed as part of the Utrecht Early Music Festival, and was a Handel House Young Talent.

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Lucia recently received a Creative Scotland Open Fund grant, to create her album, OMOW, which uses her skills as a performer and sound engineer to collaborate with talented musicians from across the globe, who specialise in a breadth of different genres. You can find out more about it on the OMOW website.

 

Lucia has a keen interest in live electronics, and is part of the band 'Haptic', formerly known as Ensemble 1604. In 2020, ...shadows that in darkness dwell... written for the group by electroacoustic composer, Timothy Cooper, was nominated for a Scottish Award for New Music and an Ivor Award. Their debut album was released in 2023, featuring a 14 minute piece for cello and electronics, Labyrinth, which won the Royal Musical Association's 2025 Tippet Medal. The full album can be heard HERE.

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Lucia is passionate about cross-disciplinary projects, performing in ‘Where late the Sweet Birds Sang’ directed by Martin Parr, ‘Noh Time like the Present’ with Noh theatre master Akira Matsui at LSO St Luke’s, ‘Calcutta’ directed by Katie De La Matter, ‘A Thousand Faces’ directed by Amina Khayyam, London Handel Festival’s 'In the Realms of Sorrow', and Dunedin Consort’s ‘Sonata’ project. In 2023 she created and directed (stage and music) her first fully immersive production, ‘The Enchanted Snake', with storyteller Mara Menzies, musicians of Dunedin Consort, and a set created by artist, James Abell.

 

Lucia has a curiosity in 18th century folk music, performing and recording with Concerto Caledonia, the Twisted Twenty and Scots Baroque. She has also worked with contemporary artists including DJ Yoda, Eva Lazarus, Joel Culpepper, Swindle, and Meilyr Jones, and performs in the nine-piece jazz ensemble, the Sam Watts Band.

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Lucia is currently the Learning & Participation Manager at Dunedin Consort, where she delivers an annual programme of school workshops, relaxed performances, choral workshops, performance classes and clinics, open rehearsals, two young artist schemes, and other bespoke opportunities. In 2022 she spearheaded the international artist development scheme, Intrada, in collaboration with Concerto Copenhagen, B'Rock Orchestra, and Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century.

Lucia is a keen educator and has decades of experience teaching the cello, viola da gamba and bass guitar, at organisations such as Mountview Academy for Performing Arts and Douglas Academy. She has given guest workshops at Conservatoires, Universities, and music specialist schools across the UK. From 2014 to 2018 Lucia worked with the charity Future Talent to devise and deliver a three-year Arts Council funded Performance and Development programme, supporting talented young musicians from disadvantaged backgrounds. In this role she directed chamber music ensembles, gave mentoring and teaching sessions and founded the Future Talent Orchestra. She has taken Future Talent chamber music ensembles to perform at venues such as Buckingham Palace, Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival, and the Royal Northern College of Music.

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Lucia completed her undergraduate degree at Birmingham Conservatoire in 2009 with a 1st class BMus (Hons), and in 2011 went on to study for her Masters at the Royal Academy of Music, where she received a Distinction with the prestigious DipRAM Award, under cellist Jonathan Manson.