BIOGRAPHy
"ACHIEVING SOUNDS RANGING BETWEEN DELICACY AND BOLDNESS, AS WELL AS EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN"
- THE STRADSelected by international critics as one of the world's top bass players and recognised for her «great intensity and exceptional technique». Uxía Martinez Botana was the first principal double Bass at the age of 23 of the Grammy Award Winner Kremerata Baltica, under the direction of Gidon Kremer, working with soloists such as Martha Argerich, Emmanuel Pahud, Khatia Buniatishvili, Daniel Baremboin, Mario Brunello, Mikhail Pletnev, Heinrich Schiff, and many other renowned artists. Since January 2016 she has been the principal Double Bass of the Weinberger Kammerorchester (Zurich) under Gábor Takács-Nagy's direction and the Brussels Philharmonic's principal double bass until 2020. She also became a member and solo double bass in 2019 at the Oxford Philharmonic until nowadays.
Other work with orchestras includes The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Netherlands Philharmonic, the Budapest Festival Orchestra under the direction of Ivan Fischer, and guest principal double bass at the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and Belgium National Orchestra. She is also a Double Bass professor at the ESMUC College of Music of Catalonia in Barcelona (Spain) and a guest professor at the foundation Barenboim-Said. In 2021 She joined as well the Stauffer Center Academy for strings, in Cremona (Italy) together with other renowned artists such as Sol Gabetta, Michael Barenboim, Lisa Batiashivili, Daniel Hope, Julian Rachlin, Lawrence Power, Antoine Tamestit, Steven Isserlis, Mischa Maisky, Alissa Weilestein.
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Besides her work in orchestras, Uxía Martínez Botana has developed a brilliant career as a soloist and as a chamber musician. As a bass soloist, In 2010 Her interpretation of Parable XVII by Vincent Persichetti has been acclaimed by international critics as ¨astonishing emotional intensity and master control over the instrument”. 2012 the premiere of works by composer Wladimir Rosinskij in the festival ¨Two Days and Two Nights of New Music” Odessa (Ukraine) acclaimed as ¨powerful and breathtaking”. In 2014 She had her solo debut at the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) with “The New European Ensemble”. In February 2017 she had as well her solo debut with the Symphony Orchestra of Galicia under the baton of Dima Slobodeniouk premiering works by Wladimir Rosinskij. In 2018, she had her solo debut with Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra and violinist Josef Spacek. In 2019, she had her solo debut with the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra (Budapest), same year, she debuted with Stellenbosch Chamber Orchestra (Stellenbosch, South Africa). She has also performed solo recitals in the Luxembourg Philharmonie Hall, Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain.
As a chamber musician, Uxía has played with prominent musicians such as Maxim Vengerov, Veronica Eberle, Julia Fischer, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Anna Chumachenko, Yuri Bashmet, Natalia Gutman, Andras Schiff, Christian Tetzlaff, Lars Vogt, Nobuko Imai, Tabea Zimmermann, Gary Hoffman, Kian Soltani, Ante Weithaas, Mischa Maisky, Sol Gabetta, Bertrand Chamayou, Alina Abragimova, Laurence Power, Amihai Grosz, Frans Helmerson. In 2022 She joined as well as Grammy-nominated mandolinist Avi Avital in his chamber music ensemble “Between Worlds” releasing in 2025 a recording with Deutsche Grammophone.
Uxía Martínez Botana is regularly invited to participate in important festivals all over Europe: The Gergiev Festival (Netherlands), Schleswig Holstein International Chamber Music Festival (Germany), Spanungen (Germany), Gstaad Menuhin Festival (Switzerland), Solsberg (Switzerland), Kuhmo International Chamber Music Festival (Finland), The Kronberg Academy ¨Chamber Music Connects the World¨ and ¨Masters in Performance of the Kronberg Academy¨(Frankfurt, Germany), Musiq 3 Festival (Belgium), Stellenbosch International Music Festival (South Africa) Schubertiade Schwarzenberg Hohenems (Austria) among many others.
Uxia is also the founder of the Rubik Ensemble Ensemble formed by six international soloists: Nikita Boriso Glebsky (violin), Solenne Paidassi (violin), David Cohen (cello), Dana Zemtsov (viola), Uxia Martinez Botana (Double Bass) and Andreas Hering (piano).
In February 2016 she was selected by The National Dutch Musical Instrument Foundation as one of their sponsored artist: Uxia Martinez Botana. 2016 Muziekinstrumenten Fonds Artist who loaned her the English Double Bass known as “The English Lady ¨(1800 c.a), the instrument belongs to the ¨Willem Vogelaar¨ collection. She also plays a “Ludwig Neuner” (1854) loaned by a private sponsor.
Uxia’s big passion for film music drove her to collaborate on many recordings of soundtracks with the Netherlands Film Festival such as the movie “No Estoy Muerto, solo Estoy Dormido” (“I am not Dead, I am just Asleep”) by de Dutch/Mexican filmmaker Juan Sebastian Lopez Maas, awarded at the Berlinale Film Festival with the “Canon Award” for young talents.
Awards:
2012: She was selected in Ukraine “artist of the year” by the national music magazine “Muzika”
2014: She received the Gustav Mahler scholarship by the Claudio Abbado Foundation among 10 prominent musicians of Europe in Bolzano (Italy) under the direction of Daniel Harding
2015: She has been selected by the famous german brand of Strings ¨Pirastro¨as one of their sponsored artist: Uxia Martinez Botana. 2015 Pirastro Artist . She has been front cover of the German music magazine “Fono Forum”. Uxia was selected as the artistic image of one of the most prestigious halls in The Netherlands The Tivolibrendenburg in Utrecht for the season 2015/2016: Uxia Martinez Botana Image of the Tivolibrendenburg Hall 2015/2016.
2016: She has been selected “artist of the year” in Japan by the Japanese music magazine “The walker’s”
In September 2016 she was included in the anual book “Per Archi” by the arts department of the University of Florence. They dedicated her an article inside of the book as “greatest double bass players of the new millennium”.
"A FIERY PERFORMER OF INCREDIBLE TECHNICAL SKILLS"
- BACHTRACK.COM
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“ THE AMOUNT OF CONTROL SHE SHOWS OVER HER INSTRUMENT IS ASTONISHING WHILE THE EMOTION SHE POURS INTO IT IS BREATHTAKING “
- NOTREBLE.COM
Teaching
Since 2018, Uxia Martinez Botana has been a double bass professor at ESMUC “Catalonia College Of Music” in Barcelona, Spain. She created the project “Contrabajos ESMUC”. An initiative to help and promote young talents, serving as a “connecting bridge” between the students of the Catalonia College of Music with Benelux and many other European countries.
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