Rodrigo Ruiz
*6 October 1988
Works from Rodrigo Ruiz
Biography
Hailed as “an astonishing composing talent” (Apple Music), Rodrigo Ruiz’s albums have reached 600,000+ streams in over 150 countries in the five inhabited continents of the globe. His music is in high demand amongst prestigious artists and ensembles, who frequently commission new works; recent commissioners include award-winning choir Tenebrae, soprano Grace Davidson, and violist Ismel Campos of the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra. His compositions have been premiered and performed in Europe, America and Africa by world-class musicians such as Sir Huw Watkins, Laura van der Heijden (bbc Young Musician Award 2012), Christopher Glynn (GRAMMY® Award Winner), Grace Davidson, Kerenza Peacock, Alison Farr, Massimo Spada, José Miguel Rodilla and Rodrigo Sierra Moncayo, to name a few. Drawing from his conducting background, Rodrigo’s orchestrations are consummate works that enjoy a particular mixture of Classical training and repertoire, and the freedom of a more modern imagination.
The Mexican-American composer’s compositions are published by Universal Edition. He is part of the star-studded artist roster of Signum Classics (2017 Grammophone Magazine Label of the Year). In 2021, Rodrigo made his debut in the Billboard Classical Charts with his album Behold the Stars, which quickly reached over half a million streams, positioning itself as iTunes UK No 2 Bestseller, iTunes US No 3 Bestseller and included in Apple Music’s Top 10 Albums of the Month; the album was also proposed for a nomination for the 2022 Latin GRAMMY® Awards.
Rodrigo has conducted in several continentes, in countries including Mexico, United States, Germany, Italy and Brazil, and has collaborated with distinguished artists such as Mauricio Nader, Farizat Tchibirova, Francisco Cedillo, Thomas Cilluffo, Francesca Chiejina, Andrea Fortier. He was assistant conductor in Naxos Records’ recording of Milhaud: L’Orestie d’Eschyle, which was nominated for the 2015 GRAMMY® Awards for Best Opera Recording.
He holds a Bachelor of Music cum laude in Piano Performance from Lawrence University and a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Michigan. Thanks to the generous help of the Joseph Campbell Scholarship, he attended the intensive Mythological Studies programme at Pacifica Graduate Institute during 2020/21.
About the music
“Ruiz’s music is resolutely tonal and impeccably crafted” (Apple Music).
“Unabashedly tonal, this is music firmly rooted in the vocabulary of Brahms and Beethoven” (BBC Music Magazine).
"[The music] clearly shows Rodrigo´s roots in the traditions of Beethoven and Brahms, but with individual twists that clearly indicate we are in fact on new territory" (Jessica Duchen).
"He is one of the finest and most talented Mexican composers of our days" (Dr. Emilio Garzón).
«I was surprised by the profundity of the sonic message of this composer. But what interested me most was the clarity and sincerity of his expression, with a language—yes, Romantic, but—expressive and authentic» (José María Álvarez).
Current working on
Tattvas (Elements) is a project comprised of five poems for orchestra and elemental nature. Kitichi (earth), Varuna (water), Agni (fire), Pavana (air), and Indra (ether) are the elemental kings of the ancient Hindu scriptures. They come to life in a beautiful orchestral project that is set to be concluded in 2024 with an album for Signum Classics.
