About Oskar Espina Ruiz
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), Orquesta Sinfónica de la Ciudad de Asunción (Paraguay) and Bilbao Symphony (Spain).
His chamber music collaborations include the American, Argus, Ariel, Cassatt, Daedalus, Escher, Shanghai, Ulysses and Verona Quartets, the Quintet of the Americas, pianists Benjamin Hochman, Ursula Oppens and Anthony Newman, 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 (Perú). He 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.”
During the 2022-2023 season Oskar Espina-Ruiz performs in concert with the Penderecki and Ulysses Quartets, including Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Quintet, Brahms Clarinet Quintet, and the world premiere of a clarinet quintet by Seth Grosshandler; with Merz Trio and Trio Reverón, performing Messiaen’s iconic Quartet for the End of Time, and Gabriela Lena Frank’s Hilos; in recital with flutist Nicolas Duchamp and pianists Dmitri Vorobiev and Shari Santorelli, performing works by Valerie Coleman, Amanda Harberg, David Maslanka, Alfonso Fuentes and others; and in recital with Misha Dichter, performing Johannes Brahms’ late clarinet sonatas.
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 often performed 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 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. He was coached by flutist Aurèle Nicolet while at the European Mozart Academy. 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.