Fuensanta Zambrana Ruiz

Biography

Fuensanta Zambrana Ruiz enjoys a diverse career combining instrumental teaching with teaching Alexander Technique, alongside performing and leading workshops.

Born in Spain, Fuensanta studied for her violin degree at Trinity Laban and her Masters in Performance and Research at the Royal Academy of Music, London.

Fuensanta has performed a wide range of musical styles from classical to contemporary and world music. She regularly plays with Alice Barron as Duo Folclore, a folk orientated violin duo and has worked with a range of ensembles from musical backgrounds around the world. Recent highlights include: performing at the Holland India Festival and the South Bank Centre with bansuri player Shammi Pithia; Costellation in Chicago with Fifth House Ensemble; Shubbak Festival and BBC Radio 3 with Arabic music band ‘Karama’; and a flamenco-jazz piece Jaleos by Spanish composer Ramón Roldan and flamenco dancer Alvaro Garrido.

Fuensanta has participated in educational projects in the UK, Spain, Palestine, Israel and USA with organisations such as Spitalfields Music, London Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Barenboim-Said Foundation and Choir of London.

During her musical studies at the Royal Academy of Music Fuensanta researched into the effects of performing and its consequences on musicians’ health.  This led her to train as an Alexander Technique teacher with a passion for teaching the violin. Fuensanta’s expertise lies in training all performers in an integrated balance betwetwen the instrument and the player, which can lead to reducing pain, less anxiety and performing with greater freedom.

Fuensanta currently teaches violin at Junior Trinity and Alexander Technique at Oundle School. She also runs workshops in the UK and Spain for musicians, actors and dancers with her project ‘What is Performing?’.