Alejandro Escuer, Flute and Artistic Director

Alejandro Escuer is a Mexican musician (flute) whose musical interpretations and compositions have broken new ground in Latin America. Equally at ease improvising and performing solo with symphony orchestras or with piano, guitar, electronics, percussion or multimedia, Alejandro Escuer has been a driving force for the development of new music in Mexico.

He founded ONIX in 1996 and has been the artistic director and producer of more than one hundred concerts with more than sixty premieres in Mexico, Japan. U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Hungary, Austria, Australia, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, Costa Rica and many others.  He has received prizes and awards, including a Rockefeller Foundation Award, The National Interpreters Competition INBA (first prize) 1986, 1987; The National Scholarship Award for the Arts (UNAM) 1989, 1991, 1995; Líderes de México Honorary Award 1998, and many awards and fellowships from Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (FONCA).  He is a full time tenured faculty at the Escuela Nacional de Musica at Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico  (UNAM) and has given master classes and lectures throughout the Americas.  Currently he is a visiting Fulbright professor at Indiana University.

Alejandro Escuer holds degrees from Conservatorio Nacional de Música and Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. He obtained his soloist degree from Sweelinck Conservatorium Amsterdam and his doctorate from New York University in 1995.

A multidisciplinary artist, incorporating painting, photography and design in his approach to music, Alejandro has released multiple solo albums, including Jade, Nocturno, Aqua, Aire Desnudo, and Folklore Imaginario.

Edith Ruíz Zepeda, Piano

Edith Ruíz has played in Mexico’s main concert halls, as well as in the United States, Canada, Poland, Cuba, Colombia and Ireland. She has performed in international music festivals such as:  Music Academy of the West (Santa Barbara), Aspen Music Festival, Clarinetfest 2006 (Atlanta), Clarinetfest 2007 (Vancouver), Festival Internacional Cervantino, Foro de Música Nueva Manuel Enríquez, Festival Internacional Eduardo Mata (Mexico) among many others. She is a sought after pianist in Mexico and collaborates regularly with the principal orchestras of Mexico City as well as music schools, choirs, competitions, festivals, radio and television.

She is currently the principal pianist at the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería, and a full time tenured professor at the Escuela Nacional de Música/UNAM.

She has recorded two CDs with clarinetist Javier Vinasco for Música de Cámara Latinoamericana label. She received the Gabino Barreda and Gustavo Baz Prada medals (UNAM), the Gwendolyn Koldovsky 2000 prize (Cleveland Institute of Music) and she is second prize winner of the Darius Milhaud 2000 Competition (CIM). As a soloist she has performed with the Sinfónica de Puebla, Banda del Estado de Oaxaca, Camerata Cronos, Orquesta Juvenil de la Escuela Nacional de Música among others. Edith Ruiz has a  Bachelors Degree from the Escuela Nacional de Música/UNAM in Mexico and a Masters Degree in Collaborative Piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Fernando Domínguez, Clarinet

Fernando Domínguez studied clarinet at the Conservatory of Vienna with Roger Salander and bass clarinet with Harry Sparnaay at the Conservatory of Amsterdam.  In Mexico he has studied with Francisco Garduño, Luis Humberto Ramos and Abel Pérez Piton in the music schools of the Ollin Yoliztli and the Escuela Nacional de Música (UNAM).  He has played as a soloist with the following orchestras: Sinfónica Vida y Movimiento, La Escuela Nacional Preparatoria, Sinfónica de IPN, La Cámara de Bellas Artes and Sinfónica Carlos Chávez.

He currently teaches at the Escuela Nacional de Música (UNAM) and plays with the pianist Tonatiuh de la Sierra as a duo performing in concert halls in Mexico City. He also performs with Ensamble 3, with the flutist Salvador Torre and the pianist Mauricio Náder with whom he has presented concerts at The New Music Forum, The Contemporary Music Festival in Havana, Cuba, Encounters with Mexico in Bogotá, Colombia, and in many other cities in Mexico. In 2000, Ensamble 3 won first place in the VII Chamber Music Contest of the National University. Fernando Domínguez has participated in the International Musik Ferienkuerse in Darmstadt, Germany in 2002 and has been the recipient of numerous grants from the Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes.

Abel Romero, Violín

Abel Romero is a member of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional and is a faculty member of Centro Escolar Cedro.  He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance from the University of Maryland, where he was offered a merit-based scholarship.  He was a second prize winner of the IV National Violin Competition at the Escuela Nacional de Música of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.His violin teachers were Daniel Heifetz, Natalia Gvodetzkaya, Archil Katzarava, Aaron Bitrán and Cruz Rojas.

He has performed for world-renowned artists such as Pinchas Zuckerman, John Dalley, Zoria Zijmurzaieva and Jorge Risi, who have have coached him over the years.

Edgardo Espinosa, Cello

Edgardo Espinosa was born in Mexico City where he studied at the National School of Music, graduating with honors in 1990. Thanks to a scholarship from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, he continued his studies in London, England, with Richard Markson. While in Europe, he obtained several diplomas such as LLCM, FLCM and a graduate Studies Certificate from the London College of Music.  Later on, he obtained a Master of Music Degree in musical performance from the Thames Valley University.

He has attended several summer courses in the United Kingdom, Italy and Mexico, where he has received master classes from Maud Martin Tortelier, Wolfgang Laufer, Alan Smith and Ivan Monighetti, amongst others. Upon completing his studies, Edgardo Espinosa moved back to Mexico, where he currently is a full-time tenured professor at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. There he devotes himself both to teaching and to performing chamber music, with special emphasis in contemporary music.  Besides his participation in ONIX Ensamble, he also plays with Cello Alterno and performs regularly in the most important music halls all across his country.   Additionally, he has recently participated in concerts in the United States, England, Spain and China.