MOKÖI DUO

Juan Manuel Díaz Rivero, violin

Born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, he began his violin studies at the age of 7 at the Academy of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Gran Canaria with Mikhail Vostokov. He obtained the Superior Violin degree at the Superior Conservatory of Music of the Canary Islands with the highest grades. He later pursued a Postgraduate in Violin at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya with the prestigious pedagogue Eva Graubin, thanks to a scholarship awarded by the Fundación Mapfre Guanarteme.

His violinistic training has been influenced by: Jose Luis Melián, Gabriel Simón, Eltchi Ivanova, Anatoli Romanov, Mariana Abacioaie, Sergio Marrero, and Vera Martínez. He has expanded his violinistic and chamber music knowledge with: Anna Baget, Enrique Palomares, Alberto Rosado, José Ramón Méndez, Amayak Dourgarian, Rainer Sonne, Benjamin Schmid, Boris Belkin, Mariana Sirvu, Oyvind Bjora, Klaidi Sahatci, Michail Gieler, among others.

In 2009, he was part of the Francisco Guerrero String Quartet, with which he won the First Prize in the Chamber Music Competition Santa María de Guía.

Currently, he is a regular collaborator with the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also collaborated with the Las Palmas Symphony Orchestra, Classical Chamber Orchestra of the Canary Islands, Camerata Orchestra of Gran Canaria, Chamber Orchestra of the Canary Islands, Camerata XXI, Yucatán Symphony Orchestra, among others.

In terms of pedagogy, he has been a full-time professor at the Music School of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, a full-time professor of violin and chamber music at the University of Sciences and Arts of Chiapas (Mexico), and currently, he is a violin professor at the Daute-Isla Baja Regional Music School.

In 2023, he obtained a Master’s Degree in Direction and Management of Cultural and Creative Industries from the Miguel de Cervantes European University.

His passion for chamber music has led him to be a founding member of the Camerata Orchestra of Gran Canaria, KanArt Ensemble, Arkitec Duo, and Moköi Duo.

Kathleen Balfe Arnold, cello

Kathleen Balfe has lived and worked in Spain since 2003 when she began her career with the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra. In 2007, she won the position of solo cellist with the City of Granada Orchestra, an institution she currently remains with. She is also a founding member of the contemporary group Ensemble NeoArs Sonora since its conception in 2008.

With this activity, Kathleen Balfe has had the opportunity to perform at the most renowned festivals and institutions in Spain, such as the CNDM, Spanish Music Festival in Cádiz, Canary Islands Music Festival, Musica Músika in Bilbao, Classical Music Festival in El Escorial, San Sebastián Musical Fortnight, and the International Music and Dance Festival of Granada.

With the Ensemble NeoArs Sonora, she has appeared on RTVE’s Programa de Mano and recorded a four-disc project, Patrimonios Sonoros, subsidized by the BBVA Foundation in 2016, dedicated to Spanish composers.

Kathleen Balfe collaborates with the New Century Chamber Orchestra in San Francisco and is a member of the orchestra of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, California, exclusively dedicated to contemporary music written by composers mostly from the United States.

She has recorded albums with various ensembles for Verso, Bis, and RCA Records.