| Oskar Espina Ruiz has been described
by the press as a “masterful soloist”
and a “highly expressive” clarinetist
who “brings forth the notes with an energy
that reaches down to one's soul.” Over the
past nine years Espina Ruiz has performed at
major concert halls and festivals to high
critical acclaim, including concerto performances
at the Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg,
Russia, and recitals at Carnegie's Weill Hall in
New York, the Corcoran Museum in Washington DC,
the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, Oji Hall in Tokyo,
the Madrid Royal Superior Conservatory, the
Beijing and Shanghai Conservatories and Radio
Television Hong Kong. He has appeared as soloist
with the St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony
(Russia), St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic
(Russia), Orquesta Sinfónica de la Ciudad de
Asunción (Paraguay) and Bilbao Symphony (Spain).
His chamber music collaborations include the
Shanghai, Escher and Calla quartets, the Quintet
of the Americas, pianist Anthony Newman, cellist
David Geber (founder, American String Quartet)
and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra artists. He has
been featured as soloist at the 20th
Tokyo Summer Festival, the European Mozart
Academy —performing throughout European
capitals—, the St. Petersburg Palaces XIII.
International Music Festival (Russia) and the VI.
Festival Internacional de Música Clásica
Contemporánea de Lima (Peru). Espina Ruiz has recorded
for the Bridge, Kobaltone and Prion labels,
receiving high critical acclaim by fellow
clarinetists Richard Stoltzman and Charles
Neidich for his solo recording “Julián
Menéndez Rediscovered.” Charles Neidich,
with whom he studied in New York City for over
ten years, calls Espina Ruiz “an unusually
gifted musician who has already made a mark in
the musical world and is becoming one of the most
distinguished clarinetists in the US.”
Richard Stoltzman wrote: “Bravo! You are and
have the kind of energy the music world
needs.”
Espina Ruiz
devotes much of his time to musical research. His
work on Spanish Post-Romantic composer Julián
Menéndez brought him the first prize of the
International Clarinet Association Research
Competition in 2006, later writing an article for
the March 2007 issue of “The Clarinet”
magazine, and led to the acquisition of one of
Menéndez's clarinets by the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, for its Musical Instruments Galleries
—currently on display at its permanent
collection, including a photo and biography of
Menéndez next to Benny Goodman's.
In an effort to
bring important works and revisions into the
clarinet repertoire, in 2003 Espina Ruiz
performed the South American premiere of the
original Copland Clarinet Concerto, reconstructed
from the manuscripts at the Library of Congress,
and his orchestrations and adaptations include
Ravel's Sonate Posthume, works by Arriaga,
Sarasate, Turina, Granados and Falla, and
Menéndez's Clarinet Concerto No. 2.
He is deeply
involved with the music of our time and has
premiered works written for him by Chinese
composers Ao, Hu and Chen, Spanish composers
Bageneta and Villasol, French composer Gaigne and
American composers Weymouth and Spinei.
Born in Bilbao,
Spain, his first musical training came at an
early age performing on Basque folk instruments.
He later pursued the traditional conservatory
training as a clarinetist and often performed
with the Bilbao Symphony, as its youngest member,
at age sixteen. He came to New York City in 1991
to further his studies in clarinet and won the
top clarinet prizes at the Olga Koussevitzky and
Artists International competitions.
He holds a Doctor
in Musical Arts diploma from Stony Brook
University and a Master in Fine Arts diploma from
Purchase College Conservatory of Music, where his
major teachers were Charles Neidich and Ayako
Oshima. He has also studied with flutist Aurèle
Nicolet while at the European Mozart Academy.
Oskar Espina Ruiz
currently holds a clarinet faculty position at
the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, in San
Juan, PR, maintains a clarinet studio at
Bloomingdale School of Music in New York City and
is artistic director of the Treetops Chamber
Music Society, in Stamford, CT, while keeping a
busy concert schedule.
For more information, please visit www.kobaltone.com
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