Beltane Ruiz Molina

Born in 1983 (Soria, Spain), began to play the double bass aged 10.
She studied modern double bass and composition at Guildhall School in London, Hanns Eisler in Berlin. Later she did a Master in early music at Schola Cantorum in Basel.
Her main teachers were: Rinat Ibragimov, Esko Laine, Janne Saksala, Peter McCarthy and David Sinclair. In modern performance practice she got valuable impulses from Uli Fussenegger.
During her studies she got scholarships from Humboldt-Wardwell-Stiftung, Spanish Culture Ministery, ‘Asociación de Artistas de Espania’ as well as ‘Juventudes Musicales’.
She won the ‘Música Saludable’ competition in Soria 1997, ‘Hanns-Eisler-Preis’ for contemporary music 2007 as well as finalist at DAAD-Preis 2007.

After her studies she worked with the most prominent modern orchestras such as: English National Opera, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, Staatskapelle, Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester and Komische Oper in Berlin, Duisburger Philarmoniker, Nederlands Philarmonisch Orkest, Het Ballet Orkest, Phion Orkest.

In 2010 she founded together with her colleagues the self-organized Zafraan Ensemble in Berlin. Since 2015 she dedicates herself fully to perform early and contemporary music.

She often plays with the most prestigious contemporary music ensembles in Europe such as: Klangforum Wien, musikFabrik Köln, Ensemble Resonanz Hamburg, CrossingLines Barcelona, Ensemble New Babylon Bremen, Klangforum Heidelberg, E-Mex-Ensemble Köln, Oh Ton Ensemble Oldenburg, Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop, LUX:NM, Ensemble Adapter, Ensemble Mosaik and KNM Ensemble in Berlin.

On period instruments she plays regularly with: Concerto Köln, Combattimento Amsterdam, Chambre Philharmonique in Paris, Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, Ensemble Cordia (Italy), Elbipolis Barockorchester Hamburg or kammerorchesterbasel among others.

She is member of Anima Eterna Brugge and Apollo Ensemble, where she leads the basses and is part of the artistic team.

As soloist she appeared with ‘Orquesta de Cámara Andrés Segovia’ and with Baden-Badener Philharmonie as well as with Zafraan Ensemble Berlin.

In 2016-2018 she performed as a soloist Body Opera, an opera installation by Wojtek Blecharz https://wojtekblecharz.com staged at festivals like Huddersfield, Viitasaari (Finnland) or Rainy Days (Luxembourg).

In 2021 she started her own concert series in her region with an intimated flair: ‘night music’ with Fie Schouten https://fieschouten.nl and Eva van de Poll, ‘in de stilte’ with Marianne Svašek https://www.mariannesvasek.com (mixing Scelsi and Indian chants), ‘a musical time journey’ (solo program-lecture) or ‘reflections’ with artist Linda Meulenhoff http://www.lindameulenhoff.nl (live music and painting performance based on modern works for bass).
Her most recent heartfelt project is a broad cooperation with GRAME https://www.grame.fr/ as part of the European Project Metamorphoses https://metamorphosesproject.eu/partners , where she recorded and performed ‘Folia’ (Kaija Saariaho) as well as giving masterclasses in Málaga (Spain).
A continuation is planned for next year with further pieces for solo bass and live electronics and masterclasses around France.
She lives in Nord Holland with her family and three cheeky chickens.