BIOGRAPHY
Ángela López-Lara is a musician, dancer and researcher who, living between Spain and Indonesia since 2010, delves into the performing arts of both countries. She graduated as a classical pianist from the Conservatorio Superior “Joaquín Rodrigo” (Valencia) and specialized in piano performance at Musikeon (Valencia). She holds a Master in Music Research from the Valencian International University, and is currently pursuing a PhD degree in the field of Musicology at the Complutense University of Madrid.
Surrounded by an artistic environment from a young age, Ángela diversified her career across various areas of the performing arts. She has studied contemporary and flamenco dance, jazz and flamenco vocal techniques, acting, and physical theater. She has worked as a pianist, actress, singer, dancer, and choreographer since 2005, collaborating with companies such as Eureka Teatro, Tercero Izquierda Teatro, Lluvia Horizontal, and the 4 Hands 4 Feet Piano duet alongside Diego Ghymers. Fascinated by the interplay of music with movement and action, Ángela has performed original live music for theater plays and silent films, and to this day, continues to explore the possibilities of sound and the intersections between disciplines and cultures with endless curiosity, admiration, and a sense of humor.
From 2010 to 2014 Ángela studied traditional performing arts at ISI Yogyakarta, Sanggar Seni Satriya Lelana in Bali, and Sanggar Purwa Kencana in Cirebon, Java, focusing on gamelan, sindhen vocal techniques, as well as Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese dance. A pioneer of Balinese dance in Spain, Ángela has taught courses and masterclasses, as well as performed, in collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Madrid, since 2014. During her stays in Indonesia, she collaborates with the Cervantes Institute, conducting masterclasses and conferences on Spanish piano repertoire as well as flamenco music and dance.
Currently, Ángela is completing her dissertation on exoticism in music and dance during the international exhibitions of the 19th century. Alongside Luca Chiantore, she has written 'Sundanese Reverberances: Untangling Contradictions about the Gamelan Spectacle during the 1889 Paris World’s Fair', soon to be published in Music & Letters. Additionally, having located the gamelan featured in the 1889 exhibition, she has conducted an initial study of the instruments, which will soon be published in collaboration with Chiantore. She has presented part of her research at international conferences such as 'Materiality and the Meaning of Musical Instruments' organized by the Galpin Society in 2024, and is scheduled to present further findings at the 2024 AMS Annual Meeting, and the 48th ICTMD World Conference.