Adalus Low-Manzini
Adalus Low-Manzini is an emerging Venezuelan cellist, freelance musician, teaching artist, private cello teacher, and arts administrator based in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she is pursuing an Artist Diploma in Cello Performance with Professor Alan Rafferty at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. One of Adalus’ passions is creating musical, educational, and informative content about music for social media.
Since 2019, Adalus has been involved with the International Cello Institute (ICI), a three-week-long summer camp exclusively for cellists based in Northfield, MN. She has been ICI’s Video and Social Director since 2019 and Co-Director of Operations since 2023. In these positions, Adalus programs and coordinates the summer program’s activities and logistics, including lessons, masterclasses, student and faculty concerts, and outreach events. She occasionally collaborates with the Department of Creation of Digital Content of Center Stage Strings (CSS), Strings of Latin America (SOLA), and The Sphinx Catalog of Latin American Cello Works, these last two initiatives of the Sphinx Organization. In the Fall of 2024, Adalus won the audition for a cello section spot in the Kentucky Symphony.
Adalus is an advocate for commissioning and performing new music, especially by Latin American composers. In 2022, she received a grant through the University of Michigan to commission a solo cello work by renowned Venezuelan composer Diana Arismendi, which was premiered in her Master’s degree recital. In October of 2022, Adalus was invited to perform as a soloist with the Holland Symphony Orchestra in Western Michigan, where she performed the United States premiere of the concertino for cello and strings by Argentinian composer Esteban Benzecry. Adalus’s goal is to continue commissioning and premiering works, a mission she also carries out as part of “Trío Líneas,” her flute, cello, and piano ensemble with which she regularly competes in Chamber Music events.
With Trío Líneas, she enjoys working with living composers and participating in the creative and collaborative aspects of commissions. Recent projects include a collaboration with Mikeila McQueston, a University of Michigan DMA composition student, premiering her new work, Little Things, in November of 2023. In addition, they worked with Colombian composer Paola Márquez in creating a new version of her piano trio Monarch, which the composer arranged for Flute, Cello, and Piano. In April 2024, they premiered commissions by Jelani Surpris and Grace O’Duffy and have ongoing collaborations involving University of Michigan Composers Nora Farley and Haley Olson.
Trío Líneas’ mission is to make an impact outside of the concert hall by putting on shows where accessibility, community collaboration, and innovation are the main driving forces. When it comes to accessibility, the ensemble wants to open doors for performances in third places, where a relaxed environment, safe surroundings, and interactions during the pieces are encouraged. They want their listeners to come as they are and exist freely during their shows, combating the expectation of being a passive audience member.
Having started her musical studies in the renowned Venezuelan musical program “El Sistema,” Adalus performed with maestro Gustavo Dudamel in Venezuela and Sir Simon Rattle at the prestigious Salzburg Festival in Austria. She received her Bachelor of Music degree in Cello Performance from Louisiana State University in 2021, studying with Dennis Parker; two Master’s degrees in Cello Performance (2023) and Chamber Music (2023); and a Specialist’ of Music degree (2024) from the University of Michigan.
She has performed as a soloist with orchestras throughout Venezuela and the United States, including the Falcón Symphony Orchestra, the Teresa Carreño Symphony Orchestra, the Rapides Symphony Orchestra, and the LSU Symphony Orchestra, among others. In addition to performing chamber music, Adalus has performed with different orchestras in the Louisiana and Michigan area, including the Baton Rouge Symphony, the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, the Rapides Symphony Orchestra, the Ann Arbor Symphony, and the Kentucky Symphony.