Uxía Martínez Botana

She got her first professional contract with the Symphony Orchestra of Galicia (Spain) at the age of 16. Later, Uxía has worked as a bass player in orchestras such as The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, The Netherlands Philharmonisch Orkest under the direction of Marc Albrecht and The Amsterdam Sinfonietta under the direction of Candida Thompson. Uxia has been Guest Principal Double Bass at the Philharmonie Zuid-Nederland, Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO), Orchestre D’Auvergne, The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO), Oxford Philharmonic, Orquesta Philharmonica De Gran Canaria and Antwerp Symphony Orchestra. She is currently the principal double bass of Brussels Philharmonic . Since January 2016 she is as well the Principal Double Bass of the Weinberger Kammerorchester (Zurich) under the direction of Gábor Takács-Nagy. Since 2018 she is also Double Bass teacher at the ESMUC College of Music of Catalonia in Barcelona (Spain).

Uxía Martinez Botana was the first Spanish Bass Player principal Double Bass 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 renowed artists.

Beside her work in orchestras, Uxía Martínez Botana has developed a brilliant career as a soloist and as a chamber musician. As bass soloist, some of her outstanding performances were in 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 2010 Her interpretation of Parable XVII by Vincent Persichetti has been acclaimed by the international critic as “astonishing emotional intensity and master control over the instrument”. 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 woks 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 Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra (Budapest) under the baton of Robert Farkas. 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 Julia Fischer, Anna Chumachenko, Yuri Bashmet, Natalia Gutman, Andras Schiff, Christian Tetzlaff, Lars Vogt, Nobuko Imai, Tabea Zimmermann, Polina Leschenko, Natascha Kruditskaya, Philippe Graffin, Gary Hoffman, David Cohen, Kian Soltani, Aaron Pilsan, Ante Weithaas, Alexander Buzlov, Alissa Margulis, Mischa Maisky, Sol Gabetta, Alina Abragimova, Laurence Power or Tatiana Masurenko and has participated in projects such as «Tango Factory» with Marcello Nisinman (bandoneon) and Frans Helmerson (cello).

Uxía Martínez Botana is regulary invited to participate in important festivals all over Europe The Gergiev Festival (Netherlands), Schleswig Holstein International Chamber Music Festival , Spanungen (Germany), Gstaad Menuhin Festival, 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), Gstaad Menuhin Festival (Switzerland) among many others.

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. She has been front cover of the German music magazine “Fono Forum” .check here

2016: She has been selected “artist of the year” in Japan by the Japanese double bass 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”.

Uxia’s big passion for film music drove her to collaborate in 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.

I have been playing the very Unique "English Lady" Double Bass (annonimus 1800 ca.) from the NMF since already two years. What does make this instrument special is the elegant and refined tone very apropiated for solo and chamber music that can provide you. Moreover is an instrument with a huge range of sound colours , something quite demanded on Double Basses and rare to find. The name "English Lady" was given by the Dutch luthier Harry Jansen becasue of the shape of the instrument. It looks way more refined and smaller on shape than the usuals English Basses from 1800 and as well for the elegant presence and tone of the instrument. Since February 2016 is my best companion and we tour the world together.