Collective – Mosaicollective

Mosaicollective was founded in 2018 by the illustrator Elide Gramegna and the musicians and pedagogues Kristina van de Sand and Elena La Conte with the goal of exploring cross-overing arts, in particular visual arts and music. Our research is based on sustainability topics, and a poetical, interdisciplinary approach to performing for a multi-generational audience.

At the end of 2018 we realized our first production, the audiovisual concert “O Canto da Baleia – the Song of the Whale”. This production has been performed in Germany, Portugal and Italy (Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Kölner Philharmonie, Museu das Marionetas, Festa do Intendente, Festival Navicelle, a.o.). In addition to the performances, we realized various pedagogical workshops, linked to the topics of “O Canto da Baleia”.

In 2020 Mosaicollective integrated Bárbara Faustino, dancer-choreographer, and Fabiana Esposito, biologist, for the creation of a new production based on the topic of the life of bees: BZZZ.

In 2022 Mili Vizcaíno, singer and guitarist, joined in the new staging of “O Canto da Baleia” and in artistic support to the direction, composition and design of the lights of BZZZ.

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Elide Gramegna (illustrator and graphic designer) She studied Philosophy (University of Turin) and Illustration (European Institute of Design) in Turin (Italy), where she worked as a freelance in publishing and advertising and for some years in the infographics division of the newspaper La Stampa. She has been living in Lisbon since 2010 where she works with publishers, agencies and institutions in Portugal, Italy and France (children’s publishing, education, magazine, event advertising, infographics, webdesign). She also runs workshops for school-age and preschool children.

Elena La Conte (flute, vocals) was born in Turin (Italy). She studied anthropology of music in Paris (Université Vincennes Saint-Denis) and in Berlin (Freie Universität), Pedagogy of Music at the Université Paris 11 in Orsay (Paris) and jazz studies in Conservatoire de Villejuif and Montreuil. Passionate of Brazilian music, she studied Choro and Brazilian folklore in Paris and Brazil. She teaches music since ten years in creches, primary schools and conservatories. Now a days she’s living in Lisbon and performs with different bands like Faya, Circular and Ensemble Libê, among other projects.

Trimurti_Kristina_foto by Patricia Andrade

Kristina van de Sand (violin, viola, vocals) was born in Mönchengladbach (Germany). She studied Applied Cultural Sciences at the University of Hildesheim, Jazz Violin at the HMTM Hannover and the ESMAE in Porto and Elementary Music Education with Jule Greiner (UdK Berlin). Before and during her studies, she traveled to Ecuador, Peru and Brazil and has since become passionate about South American folklore. With the string quartet Quartett PLUS 1 she realized interdisciplinary concert formats for Herbstgold Festival, Sanssouci Musikfestspiele, Kölner Philharmonie and Konzerthaus Berlin and worked in several theatre productions as a stage musician. She has been living in Lisbon since 2017 where she also performs with the world music ensembles FAYA and LIBÊ.

Mili Vizcaíno (vocals, guitar/guitalele and composition) a native of Spain, began her musical career at the Badajoz Conservatory and studied jazz singing in Évora and Lisbon, with the renowned jazz singer Maria João. She taught western music at the University of Chennai and completed two semesters of music studies in Indian classical music there. Inspired by these influences, she made Carnatic music the subject of her master’s thesis and founded the ensemble AAMA, for which she wrote compositions in a fusion of jazz and Indian music. She has also completed postgraduate studies in music education for children (Universidade Nova de Lisboa) as well as Estill Voice Craft Level I +II (with Helen Rowson and Paul Farrington) and the body alphabet by Zygmunt Molik (Grotowski) with Jorge Parente. She is currently doing a PhD in Musicology at the University of Évora on the topic of music and ecology.

Bárbara Faustino brazilian,is a dancer, performer and dance teacher formed by the “Escola Municipal de
Bailado” at the São Paulo Municipal Theater. She had studied Classical and Modern Dance (Martha
Graham), Anatomy, Art History, Dance History, Music, Creativity and Improvisation. She also has a degree from the “Dança e Movimento” course at Anhembi Morumbi University and also took the Course for Pre-Primary and Primary teachers at the Royal Academy of Dance of London. She had worked as a soloist dancer and dance teacher for children, teenagers, adults and seniors at Musibéria – International Center for Music and Dances of the Iberian World – in Serpa, Portugal, where she had developed her own authorial research in dance and built three solos: OUTRA, ARTIGO88 and ABSTEN/ÇÃO. She is currently based in Lisbon, where she works as a dance teacher, ballerina coreographer and creator. She recently participated in the production THE SHOW MUST GO ON, by Jérôme Bel, in Lisbon, Porto and Viseu.

Fabiana Esposito (Italy) is a biologist with a specialization in Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation, and a Science Communicator. She obtained a Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology, with a particular focus on the Ecology and the behaviour of pollinator insects (bees), and with several publications in international scientific journals. She has deepened her interest as Educator and Science Communicator, through a pedagogical training course by using the Montessori methodology to teach Science in the Infant and Primary stages. She also collaborated with the National Museum of Natural History and Science of Lisbon (MUHNAC), where she was responsible for the creation and communication of different scientific and educational activities for the public and young students.