About
Molina Guitar Duo
(Isabella Selder & Santiago Molina Gimbernat)
The German guitarist Isabella Selder and Santiago Molina Gimbernat from Mexico met during their studies at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. Since 2017, in the Molina Guitar Duo, they have been united on the one hand by their common preference for chamber music and on the other hand by their enthusiasm for projects that go beyond the usual repertoire, making them one of the up-and-coming ensembles on the guitar scene. Their varied programs are characterized by their own arrangements as well as the interdisciplinary connection of literature and music. Characteristic and formative for the work of the Molina Guitar Duo is the close collaboration with contemporary composers, including Javier Farías from Chile, Gerard Drozd from Poland or Feliu Gasull i Altisent from Catalonia, whom Isabella met during her studies in Barcelona.
In addition to their artistic work as a duo, both musicians are also active as instrumental pedagogues in their own music studio (Gitarrenstudio Friedberg), where they contribute to cultural life both locally and nationally. After winning numerous prizes at national and international competitions, Isabella and Santiago are now also in demand as lecturers and jurors at guitar festivals and workshops, and also teach at the University of Augsburg in the field of music education.
The Molina Guitar Duo plays instruments made by guitar maker Kolya Panhuyzen.
About Isabella
Isabella Selder was born in Friedberg (Bavaria), where she received her first lessons on the guitar at the age of six and made an early appearance at national and international competitions.
From 2010 to 2015, she studied in the class of Prof. Thomas Müller-Pering at the "Franz Liszt" Academy of Music in Weimar, graduating with top grades in July 2015. She also spent a year abroad in Barcelona as a scholarship holder of the Swiss Thyll Foundation, where she was taught at the "Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya" by Prof. Laura Young, with whom she continued her studies from 2015 to 2017 with a Master at the Mozarteum in Salzburg (M.A.). During her studies Isabella was a scholarship holder at "Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now" Augsburg and was also supported by the scholarship program "Deutschlandstipendium".
As a soloist, Isabella has performed several times in Germany and abroad in recent years, for example in Cáceres (Spain) as part of the "Audiciones de Guitarra", at the "Ochsenfurter Gitarrentage" alongside renowned artists such as the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet or Xavier Díaz-Latorre (Vihuela) or as an artist in the concert series of the Tonkünstlerverband Augsburg-Schwaben.
A central concern of Isabella's is the close connection between artistic and pedagogical work: In October 2017, Isabella Selder and Santiago Molina opened the Guitar Studio Friedberg, with which they want to contribute to the promotion of cultural offerings in Friedberg through recitals and workshops in addition to the regular range of lessons.
About Santiago
Santiago Molina Gimbernat, aspiring guitarist of Mexican-Spanish descent, was born in 1992 in the city of Cancún (Quintana Roo, Mexico). He began his musical training at the age of 12.
In 2008 he was admitted to the Faculty of Music of the University of Veracruz in the class of Enrique Salmerón, where he also received lessons from Consuelo Bolio, Cutberto Córdova Nieto and Alfredo Sánchez Oviedo, among others. During his training, he was able to refine his playing through the influences of other teachers such as Sebastián Guiguí and Alejandro Mora. In 2014, he began his studies at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree with a major in guitar in the class of Prof. Laura Young and Prof. Eliot Fisk in 2018 with top grades.
Numerous master classes with outstanding musicians such as Jorge Luis Zamora (Cuba), Horacio Franco (Mexico), Cecilio Perera (Mexico), Pablo Garibay (Mexico), Omán Kaminsky (Mexico), Remi Boucher (Canada), Eliot Fisk (USA) or Scott Hill (Canada) completed his education. He has received numerous prizes and awards in competitions in Mexico, Austria and Croatia and has given concerts in Mexico, the USA, Austria and Germany, including as a soloist with orchestra.
In addition to teaching at the Guitar Studio Friedberg and the Music School Neu-Ulm, Santiago Molina Gimbernat is also a lecturer at the Chair of Music Education at the University of Augsburg since October 2019.