Born in Turin (Italy) in 2003, Maria Clara began studying the cello at the age of five.
Decisive is the meeting, at just 15 years old, with Antonio Meneses, who selected her for the advanced courses at the Accademia Walter Stauffer in Cremona, where she earned the Stauffer Artist Diploma.
Since 2024, she has been studying under the guidance of Frans Helmerson.
From 2021 to 2023, she was a student at the Accademia Chigiana under of Antonio Meneses, where she received the Diploma of Merit and was recently selected for the "Young Italian Musical Talents in the World" project in collaboration with CIDIM.
At just 17 years old, she was admitted with special merits to the Bachelor of Arts in Music in Asier Polo’s class at the Conservatory of Italian Switzerland, where she graduated in 2024.
Since 2012 she has won national and international competitions.
Notable awards include: first prize at the Verão Classic Festival Award in Lisbon, awarded by Frans Helmerson, first prize at the New Year's Competition in Vienna, followed by her debut as a soloist with the Wiener StadtOrchester, performing the Elgar Cello Concerto. First prize at the G. Mahler International Cello Competition in Prague and first prize à l’unanimité at the Cap Ferret International Competition in France.
She made her first solo debut at just 10 years old with the Leopold Mozart Sinfonietta as part of the Atelier Giovani project promoted by the Unione Musicale of Turin. Since then, she has performed regularly as a soloist and in chamber ensembles for concert seasons across Italy and abroad.
She has attended masterclasses with internationally renowned musicians, such as Frans Helmerson (at the Kronberg Academy), Mischa Maisky, Steven Isserlis, Sol Gabetta, Jens Peter Maintz, Troels Svane, Jérôme Pernoo, Maximilian Hornung, Mario Brunello, Peter Bruns.
She currently performs on a “Stradivari Piatti 1720” model cello by Luiz Amorim, made in Cremona in 2024.
