Edicson Ruiz

Born in Caracas in 1985, Edicson Ruiz was eleven when he took up the double bass, his teachers and mentors since then being Felix Petit, Janne Saksala as well as Klaus Stoll at the Berlin Philharmonic´s Orchestra Academy. His first taste of orchestral playing came with El Sistema, founded by José Antonio Abreu and formally known as the Foundation for the National Network of Youth and Children´s Orchestras of Venezuela.

Then, aged only fifteen, Edicson was awarded first prize at the International Society of Bassists´ competition in Indianapolis, making him the youngest winner of all time.

Just two years later he was made a member of the Berlin Philharmonic´s double bass section, becoming not only the first Latin American musician to be so honoured but also the youngest ever in the history of the orchestra. This ensemble has taken him to, amongst other venues, the Easter and Summer Festivals in Salzburg, the Berlin Festwochen as well as to festivals as far apart as Edinburgh and Beijing.

Edicson is also active as a soloist:: as well as giving annual recitals at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Lucerne Festival and performing with orchestras all over the world, he has recorded live transmissions for TV and radio in Europe, Venezuela and North America. He is a member of the Philharmonic´s Double Bass Sextet, too, and teaches in the context of the "zukunft@BPhil" education project.

Compositions written for, and premièred by, him include Efrain Oscher´s "D K Son" and the Double Bass Concertos by Venezuelan composer Paul Desenne and Mexican horn player and composer Arturo Pantaleón.

In 2002 the Venezuelan government honoured Edicson Ruiz with the "Orden José Felix Ribas" and, a year later, he was elected one of the Junior Chamber International´s Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Venezuela (TOYP).

Edicson Ruiz is studying privadly with the magician and cellist, Anner Bijlsma.