Lara Mbella (April 29, 1997, Trieste), born Lara Makollè Mbella Teković, has her roots in both Cameroon and Croatia, which have greatly influenced her as a performer. Her artistic interest lies in promoting the recorder, showcasing its versatility through classical concerts and original shows that she conceptualizes and directs herself, integrating other art forms such as theatre and video.
Lara's musical journey began at the age of eleven when she started studying the recorder at the ‘Giuseppe Tartini’ Conservatory in Trieste. She furthered her musical education at the Music High School, graduating from the pre-academic course of level C3 and the ‘Giosuè Carducci-Dante’ State Institute in 2016. After concluding her studies in Trieste, she pursued a three-year Bachelor's degree at the ‘Benedetto Marcello’ Conservatory of Venice, graduating with top honors in the academic year 2018/2019. She presented a thesis titled ‘Il flauto diritto,’ based on the new recorder models from the ’60s, followed by three different performances: one solo recorder with mime (RARA, Sylvano Bussotti) and two solo recorder pieces with live electronics (Austro by Giorgio Tedde and Granulara by Paolo Piaser).
In the same year, under Walter van Hauwe's recommendation, Lara enrolled in the four-year Bachelor program at the ‘Conservatorium van Amsterdam’ in Amsterdam, where she graduated in 2024, presenting a series of performances that included original arrangements of Balkan music, her first theatre production, The Makollè Show, and the video production Flauto Dolce.
Throughout her studies, Lara had the opportunity to learn from the Dutch pioneers and their later students from the '60s recorder revival, such as Walter van Hauwe, Kees Boeke, Daniel Bruggen, Jorge Isaac, Erik Bosgraaf, Sarah Jeffery, and Susanne Frolinch, which greatly expanded her historical and musical knowledge. In order to enhance her creativity with the recorder, she followed 'Musicality of Movement' theatre courses with Virag Deszo and was certified at the SAE Institute of Amsterdam in video production.
