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University of North Carolina School of the Arts
University of North Carolina School of the Arts
Oskar Espina Ruiz has been described by the press as a “masterful soloist” (La Nación, Costa Rica) and a “highly expressive clarinetist” (Nevskoye Vremia, Russia). He 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 in New York City, Washington DC, Moscow, Madrid, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. He has appeared as soloist with the St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony (Russia), St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic (Russia), Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de la Ciudad de Asunción (Paraguay) and Bilbao Symphony (Spain).
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. His orchestrations and adaptations for clarinet include Ravel’s Sonate Posthume and works by Arriaga, Falla, Granados, Guridi, Isasi, Sarasate, and Turina, as well as other arrangements such as Debussy’s String Quartet, for woodwind quintet (with baritone sax instead of horn), and his orchestration of Menéndez’s Clarinet Concerto No. 2.
Born in Bilbao, Spain, his first musical training came at an early age, performing on Basque folk instruments, a fipple flute and drum, or “txistu” and “tamboril.” He later pursued the traditional conservatory training as a clarinetist and appeared with the Bilbao Symphony, as its youngest sub, from age sixteen. He came to New York City in 1991 to further his studies in clarinet at Mannes School of Music, and later won the top clarinet prizes at the Artists International and Olga Koussevitzky international competitions. He was a member of the New York Youth Symphony, performing three concerts a year at Carnegie Hall.
He holds an MFA from the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College, and a DMA from Stony Brook University, where his major teachers were Charles Neidich and Ayako Oshima. While at the European Mozart Academy, flutist Aurèle Nicolet was one of his coaches and mentors. From 2009 to 2011 he was on the clarinet faculty at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, in San Juan, PR, and since 2011 is clarinet artist-faculty at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, currently serving as associate professor, in Winston-Salem, NC.
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