Mara Lobo has performed as a soloist and chamber-musician in Switzerland, Germany, Portugal, France, the United Kingdom, Lithuania, Czech Republic and Brazil, with a repertoire ranging from baroque to contemporary. The 1st-Prize winner of several cello competitions and former scholarship holder of the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Portugal) has appeared at music festivals such as the Klosterkonzerte Maulbronn in Germany and the Rio International Cello Encounter in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and played for live recordings for the German radio SWR2 and the Brazilian Rádio MEC. She has been selected for the 2021 Zermatt Festival Academy and frequently collaborates with various ensembles in Switzerland and Germany.
Highlights of the 2022/23 season include performances of the Brahms Double Concerto in Zurich and a performance of Bruch's Kol Nidrei with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and Andreas P. Hansson at the KKL in Lucerne.
Born in Portugal to a family of Brazilian musicians, Mara Lobo first took the cello at the age of 4. She went on to study with Stefan Popov (Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London), Martin Ostertag (Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe) and Antonio Meneses (Hochschule der Künste Bern). She is currently completing her soloist degree with Christian Poltéra at the Hochschule Luzern – Musik.
Mara Lobo's studies in Switzerland have been supported by the Kurt und Silvia Huser-Oesch Stiftung, the Rolf und Trudy Aebi-Lüthy Stiftung and the Rudolf von Tobel-Studienstiftung. She plays a cello by M. Stürzenhofecker (2009), on loan to her by the Rahn Kulturfonds.