Ronald Martin Alonso, viola da gamba
Born in Cuba in 1980, The Franco-Cuban viola da gamba player Ronald Martin Alonso lives in Paris, France. His first forays into the world of early music were with the Ars Longa ensemble, (Direction: Teresa Paz), which has performed in many of Europe’s leading festivals alongside leading conductors such as Claudio Abbado and Gabriel Garrido. His recordings from the Latin American baroque repertoire have been distinguished by the specialist press, including the Diapason d’Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique, ffff Télérama and a score of ten from Répertoire. With the Stravaganza ensemble, in 2011 he was awarded the Critics and Media prize, as well as third prize in the International Chamber Music Competition Premio Bonporti in Roveretto, Italy, the Graaf Unico Wilhelm prize at the Van Wassnaer Competition in Amsterdam (Netherlands), and in 2012 the F.J. Aumann prize at the H.I.F. Biber International Competition in Austria. In 2011 he founded the Vedado Musica Ensemble to produce musical projects centered on the viola da gamba melting baroque and contemporary musique. In 2015 he made his first solo recording, Les Folies Humaines, comprising works by Marin Marais. He regularly performs with leading ensembles, including La Cappella Mediterranea (Leonardo GarcíaAlarcón), Il Festino (Manuel de Grange), Fuoco e Cenere (Jay Bernfeld), Les Traversées Baroques (Etienne Meyer), Stravaganza (Thomas Soltani), Desmarest (Ronan Khalil), La Chapelle Rhénane (Benoît Haller), les Métaboles (Léo Warinsky) at leading festivals in Europe and Latin America like the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Dutch National Opera Amsterdam, Opéra National de Paris, Opéra Royal de Versailles, Auditorium de Radio France, Auditorium National de Bordeaux, Festival d’Ambronay, Festival de la Chaise-Dieu, Festival de Sablé, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Opera de Rio de Janeiro, just to mention some of them. He is graduate in classical guitar and double-bass from the Havana Conservatory of Music. Recipient of a bursary from the Centre International des Chemins du Baroque, in 2007 he was awarded his Specialist Diploma in Viola da Gamba after studying with Rebeka Ruso and his Diploma in Chamber Music after studying with Martin Gester at the Regional Conservatory of Music in Strasbourg, France. Three years later, in 2010, after studying with Ariane Maurette at the Paris Region Conservatory of Music, he was granted his Masters in Music (Viola da Gamba) on a unanimous decision and with the compliments of the jury. He has participated in several master classes and academies run by Jordi Savall and Christophe Coin at the Royal College of Music in London, with Marianne Müller at the Paris Region Conservatory, at the Périgord Noir Baroque Academy (M. Laplénie), the European Baroque Academy at Ambronay (M. Gester) and the Montfrin Baroque Academy (G. Garrido).
