Edmundo Ramirez - Violist
BiographyThe Neues Deutschland newspaper in Berlin, described the performance of the David Coleman "Albeniz Phantasy for solo viola and orchestra" by Edmundo Ramirez as
"... Presented as a premiere: a music full of inward gestures and virtuoso tempi with fantastical solo cadenzas. The Costa Rican violist Edmundo Ramirez conveyed these things intensely in a concertante dialogue with the orchestra... The audience was jubilant."
The Berliner Morgenpost wrote,
"...in the Albeniz Phantasy for Viola Solo and Orchestra composed by the thorough conductor the sense of form was most successful, also because Edmundo Ramirez played the solo part with the most beautiful intensity."
Edmundo Ramirez has collaborated with such artists and conductors Pierre Boulez, Kristjan Jarvi and Kent Nagano, and pianists Mikhail Muntyan and Saleem Abud-Askar. He has performed with the Ensemble Intercontemporaine, Absolute Ensemble, the Fine Arts Quartet, The Meininger Hofkapelle and Die Deutsches Kammerphilarmonie Bremmen in Germany, The New York Symphonic Ensemble, The National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, The National Symphony of Bolivia and The Youth Orchestra of the Americas.
His career as recitalist, chamber player, and soloist includes solo concerts with orchestras around the world. In Latin America he has performed in Rosario Argentina, La Paz Bolivia, Sao Paulo Brazil, International Music Festival of Costa Rica, Bellas Artes and the International Festival of Chihuahua in Mexico. In Asia he has appeared in several cities in Japan and Taipei Taiwan. Recitals and chamber music concerts in European Festivals such as Aix-en Provence and Menton in France, Torino, Bolzano, and Siena in Italy, the Bremen and Hamburg Festivals in Germany. In the United States he has made solo appearances with viola and viola d’amore at the Bach Festival in Philadelphia, Alice Tully Hall in New York City and by invitation of the composer and conductor Pierre Boulez has played the viola part of "Le Marteau sans Maitrê" at Carnegie Hall at a special performance conducted by Mr. Boulez. He has collaborated with other artists like Joe Zawinul, Paquito de Rivera and Goran Bregovich in Jazz and the World Music genre.
In addition to his performing activities, Edmundo is founder and artistic director of Ensamble America in New York City, a string orchestra that promotes both the Latin American and standard classical music repertoire. He is also founder and artistic director of the Baroque Chamber Orchestra entitled "Veracruz Chanterelle" in Veracruz Mexico.
Edmundo Ramirez began his studies at the Municipal School of Music in Santo Domingo de Heredia and the National Youth Music Program in his native Costa Rica. He continued his studies at the New England Conservatory in Boston with Walter Trampler, at The Juilliard School in New York City with Heidi Castleman, and in Sienna Italy at the Academia Musicale Chigiana with Yuri Bashmet. Edmundo is also interested in performance-practice techniques of both Baroque and Renaissance music. He plays the Baroque violin and viola, the viola d'amore and Viola da Gamba.
