Chris West was thrilled to be appointed Solo Bass of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra after stepping in to perform Bottesini’s Gran Duo Concertante at less than four hours notice in 2024. He appears frequently as guest principal with major orchestras such as the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and BBC National Orchestra of Wales. With his wife, the clarinettist Emma Johnson, Chris founded the Orchestra for the Environment, a chamber orchestra dedicated to raising awareness of conservation issues. He has played on iconic soundtracks such as Downton Abbey, Dr Who and two Harry Potter films and has recorded chamber music for labels including Naxos, SOMM, Hyperion and BMG/RCA. Chris is professor of Double Bass at Trinity Laban Conservatoire. His books include Reaching The Heights: Thumb Position on the Double Bass and The Paganini of the Double Bass, a biography of Giovanni Bottesini, the greatest double bass player of all time.

Timothy Amherst read music at University College Cardiff, and went on to study the double bass at the Royal Academy of Music with Robin McGee. He subsequently studied privately with Thomas Martin. Tim plays with a wide range of orchestras and ensembles in the UK, and he particularly enjoys working with those groups which specialise in period performance. These include the Academy of Ancient Music, the Gabrieli Players, the Classical Opera Company, Florilegium, the Avison Ensemble, the Dunedin Consort and the Retrospect Ensemble. He was for nine years principal bass with The King’s Consort. 

For the baroque repertoire Tim’s favourite instrument is a bass made in Venice c.1700; he also plays large and small violones as required. For classical music he uses a five-string violone by the Viennese maker J. G. Thir (1757).

Selected by bass magazine No Treble as one of the world’s top 10 bass players and recognised by the international critics for her ‘great intensity and exceptional technique’, Uxía Martínez Botana is Solo Bass of the Oxford Philharmonic. Uxía has played in orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw and she is currently the Principal Bass of the Brussels Philharmonic. She was the first Spanish Principal Bass of the Kremerata Baltica, under Gidon Kremer, working with artists such as Martha Argerich, Emmanuel Pahud, Khatia Buniatishvili, Daniel Barenboim, Mikhail Pletnev, Simon Rattle and many more. Uxía has also developed a brilliant career as a soloist and chamber musician. In 2012, she was soloist in the premieres of works by Wladimir Rosinskij, performances which were acclaimed as ‘powerful and breath-taking’. In 2014, she had her solo debut at the Concertgebouw with The New European Ensemble. In 2019 she had her solo debuts with Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra and Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra.