Biography

Luis Fonseca was born in Recife - Brazil and starts having Double Bass lessons in the "Centro Experimental de Música" in São Paulo. After a year, he is accepted in the "Escola Municipal de Música" to study with Professor Max Ebert Filho, where he stays for four years. He moves to Germany afterwards to study in the class of Professor Günter Klaus on the "Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main" where he finished his Bachelor after five years. He studied after that a postgraduate degree in early music on the "Schola Cantorum Basiliensis" in Switzerland for Violone and Viennese Bass by Professor David Sinclair. He attended masterclasses in the "Aspen Music Festival" in the USA; the "Clases Magistrales Reina Sofía" in Santander/ Spain; "L´academie de musique de Sion" in Switzerland and the "Carl Flesh Akademie" in Baden-Baden/ Germany with teachers as Stuart Sankey; Ludwig Streicher; Duncan Mctier, Klaus Stoll and Janne Saksala.  He has played in Orchestras such as Sinfonía Cultura Radio Orchestra and Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo in Brazil; Stadtstheater Giessen and the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt/ Germany; Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia and Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra - Pablo Sarasota in Spain and La Chambre Philarmonique de Paris in France where he worked with conductors, among others as Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Muti, Emmanuel Krivine, Pinchas Steinberg, Mstislav Rostropovitsch, Semyon Bysckov and Thomas Hengelbrock in various concert halls as Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, Palau de la música in Barcelona, Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Philarmonie in Cologne, Prinzregent - Theater in Munich, Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Igor Stravinsky Concerthall in Montreux, Sala São Paulo, Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Opera House of Warsaw, Philarmonie in Luxemburg, Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Carré Theater in Amsterdam and the Concertgebouw in Bruges to name just a few. As a teacher, he realized masterclasses to the "Fundación Magistralia" in Madrid and the "Centro de Estudios Brasileños" in Salamanca/ Spain; the "Escola Superior de Música, Artes e Espetáculo" (ESMAE) in Porto/ Portugal; the "Robert Schumann" Musik Hochschule in Düsseldorf/ Germany; the "Universidade do Estado de São Paulo (UNESP) in São Paulo/ Brasil; in the "Haydn Konservatorium" in Eisenstadt/ Austria and as Profesor at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid and "Conservatorio Superior de Música de Salamanca". He is nowadays Co-principal Bassist at the Royal Theater Opera House in Madrid. Luis Fonseca plays on a Jacquet-Gand (Mirecourt ca. 1870) and a Sigmund Hitzelberger (Pfronten 1853) Double Basses. He uses a bow specially made for him by Santiago Pardo (Madrid 2014). Besides his Double Bass activities, Luis Fonseca has an intense work as composer, with several international prizes and pieces played around the world.