We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Laura Masferrer. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Laura below.

Laura, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

A year and a half ago I took the biggest, most uncertain and most decisive risk of my life. I decided to move to New York alone, without job references and with the hope of improving my career as a cellist in the big city. I said no to job offers in Spain that I had wanted for a long time, and decided to leave everything to start a new life in New York.

One of my great passions is musical theatre, and it’s what I’ve dedicated much of my life to. After doing several productions in Barcelona and Madrid, I became the principal cellist from the West Side Story International Tour. There I learned up close how a great international production works and what it means to be part of a team of such good people and professionals around the world. My dream of continuing to grow as a cellist increased and my desire to work as a musician in New York only grew.

So after a long visa process I landed in Manhattan with a cello and two suitcases, not knowing what awaited me in life.

Laura, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started playing the cello when I was 8 years old, although I already played the piano before, I found my own voice on the cello. It was difficult for me to decide that I wanted to dedicate myself to music, but once I was clear, I didn’t part with my instrument. For many years it was my refuge and the place to go when something around me was not going well. I studied in Barcelona and Madrid with international teachers. When I left the conservatory it seemed that my only option was classical music (this is what is expected of an instrumentalist who has studied classical music all their life), but then I got offered to be part of the catalan production of the show Fun Home. Without knowing much about what I was facing, I threw myself into the project without thinking about it and discovered a world that I didn’t know I could be a part of. I was combining my career as a classical cellist (I was on tour with an orchestra for several months) and a musical theatre cellist for many years, living between Barcelona and Madrid. This allowed me to play in the most emblematic and important auditoriums in Spain, such as the Palau de la Música Catalana, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the National Auditorium, Palau Sant Jordi… But my concern for wanting something more continued to grow and for this reason I auditioned for the International Tour of West Side Story. When they accepted me I didn’t hesitate for a second to go around the world doing what I wanted the most. I felt privileged to be able to do what I loved the most every night in different cities around the world. In addition to getting to know the world, I’ve been able to play as a principal cello in such important theatres as the Dubai Opera or the Alter Oper in Frankfurt. It became increasingly clear that the next step had to be New York. So after a few months of getting a visa and discovering a little about what was coming my way, I decided to give up job offers in Spain and go to the United States without knowing what would become of me.

Now, after a year, I couldn’t be happier with the decision I made. New York is a city that has endless opportunities, and although it’s a very hard and very hostile city, if you are strong, willing to work hard to be better every day, and you’re clear about what your goals are, this is your city. In one year I can say that I’ve played at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, among others, and recently I started to play on Broadway. Every day is an adventure and you never stop learning.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The fact of generating something as intangible and as transcendent as music with an instrument that for me is the one that is closest to the human voice, is more than a privilege. I have in my hands the most powerful weapon to create that which no one can explain. As many philosophers have said throughout human history, music transcends words. It is an honor to be able to dedicate myself to this.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn wanting to be the best for others. When you’re in the world of classical music, everyone expects you to play a perfect concerto without any mistakes. And it must be so. In my particular case, I learned that I was the only person who had to know the path I wanted to follow for my career, and I learned that the best version of myself had to develop within the professional goals that I wanted for myself. And they were not about being part of a world exclusively of classical music. Obviously I want to be the best for others (and I work very hard every day to achieve this), but I realized that if I didn’t agree with what I really wanted my professional career to be, I would never become the best version of myself and neither for the others.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @Laura.masferrer
• Other: https://maestramusic.org/profile/laura-masferrer/