Maria Skiba

Maria studied cultural anthropology at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and at the same time she was busy singing and exploring the realm of music,
vocal studies at Royal Conservatory in The Hague (The Netherlands) followed. There she studied singing with Marius van Altena and Rina Cornelissens
and obtained a Master's Degree in early music singing.

Her musical and anthropological interests led her to music of the middle ages, renaissance and baroque with its richness of philosophy, cultural context and poetry. Later she discovered Lieder with fortepiano and now she is working more and more on contemporary repertoire.
Maria specialises in historical performance practice with an emphasis on music from the 16th and 17th centuries.

She is especially interested in the subject of women in music and with the ensemble Bella Discordia she explores the music of Barbara Strozzi, Francesca Caccini and other women composers/singers of the early 17th cent. Italy.

With the lutenist Frank Pschichholz she has for several years now worked on English repertoire and renaissance magic with the ensemble The Schoole of Night.

She lives in Berlin.

more: www.mariaskiba.eu