About
Basque born tuba player Andoni Moñux Ugalde was born in 1997 in Bergara (Basque Country, Spain).
Andoni started playing violin when he was 3 years old, and it wasn’t until he turned 7 that he chose to learn to play the tuba.
Aged 15 and with both instruments, Andoni jumped from music school to the professional grade conservatory in San Sebastian, where he had the chance for performing with higher leveled musicians, ensembles and orchestras among others, while he assisted to lessons with Oscar Abella, well known tuba player and principal at the Basque National Symphony Orchestra (EOS/OSE).
During those years, Andoni was awarded at competitions such as the Basque Young Talents Competition, the ‘Cesar Uceda’ National Competition or the ‘Intercentros Melomano’ Competition’s regional round.
At the age of 17, Andoni was accepted to study the Bachelor Grade of tuba at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, where he started receiving lessons from Perry Hoogendijk, principal tuba player of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (KCO).
Andoni has also received masterclasses from renowned artists such as Gene Pokorny, Roger Bobo, Dan Perantoni, Jens Bjorn Larsen, Andreas Hofmeir, Michael Godard, Rex Martin, David Kutz, Mario Barsotti, Kristian Steenstrup, Miroslav Petkov, Omar Tomasoni and Hans Nickel, among others.
Andoni has been the principal tubist in youth orchestras such as the Basque National Youth Orchestra (EGO), the Youth Orchestra of Cantabria (JOSCAN) or the Amsterdam University Orchestra ‘J. Pzn. Sweelinck’ among others.
During the year 2018, Andoni was selected to play with worldwide known orchestras such as the National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands (NJO) and the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra in Switzerland. With this last one, he had the chance to collaborate with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle.
On the next year, Andoni made his debut with professional formations such as the Basque National Orchestra (EOS/OSE) and Euskadi Brass.
Andoni has also been in the backup lists of other orchestras such as the Spanish National Youth Orchestra (JONDE), the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival Orchestra and the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO).
Throughout the last few years, Andoni has played under the baton of such renowned conductors such as Gustavo Gimeno, Sir Simon Rattle, Matthias Pintscher, Peter Eötvös, John Rutter or Robert Treviño among others, and he has performed in prestigious halls such as the ElbPhilharmonie (Hamburg), Het Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), KKL Luzern, Konzerthaus (Berlin) or the Musikverein (Vienna).
In June 2019, Andoni graduated from his studies in Amsterdam with a score of 9 out of 10, and nowadays he studies a Master’s Degree in Concert Performance with professor Anne Jelle Visser at the Zürich University of the Arts (ZHdK).