Meet the Composer

Alejandro RuttyGreensboro, North Carolina

The Conscious Sleepwalker Loops (2008)

12 minutes
2(II=picc).2.2.2—2.2.2—perc(2)—piano—strings
World Premiere: March 29, 2008, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Gil Rose

• Listen to an excerpt:
  
  Performed by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Gil Rose, conductor
• Score excerpt (pdf, 312kb) »
• Program notes (pdf, 56kb) »
• Residency proposal (pdf, 58kb) »

Alejandro Rutty's compositional output includes orchestral, chamber and mixed-media music, arrangements of Argentine traditional music, and innovative outreach musical projects.

In his music, Rutty attempts an engaging blend of traditional subtlety, experimental sophistication, and explosive energy. The Boston Globe wrote about The Conscious Sleepwalker Loops "the result is a blaring, multi-channel, gleefully vernacular carnival. It made a terrific curtain-raiser." The New York Times wrote: "Alejandro Rutty's amusing Conscious Sleepwalker Loops offered an immediate test of the ensemble's mettle." Other pieces generated similarly positive reactions: "in every respect, an impressive listening experience." Osnabrüker Zeitung (about L'accordeoniste) and the Minnesota Star Tribune (about Tango Loops 2B) "in Alejandro Rutty's wonderful Tango Loops 2B a sexy, somewhat inebriated tango pokes through the orchestral fabric every now and then, as if perceived in memory."

A unique feature of Rutty's music is its affection for textures suggested by modern recording processing techniques, and the use of Tango—a genre he performs as a pianist—and other South American genres as part of the music's surface.

Rutty's compositions and arrangements have been played by the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Argentina, National Symphony Orchestra of Brazil, New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Linköping Symphony Orchestra, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Amherst Saxophone Quartet, and the Cassatt String Quartet among other groups. Recordings of his music have been released by Capstone Records, Arizona University Recordings, and ERM Media.

Recipient of a 2008 MATA Festival commission and First Prize Winner of the 2008 Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra Competition, Rutty's recent and upcoming events include chamber and symphonic performances in North America, South America and Asia.

Rutty's appearances as conductor include the National Symphony Orchestra of Brazil (UFF), the UNCUYO Symphony Orchestra (Argentina), Hey, Mozart! Orchestra, June in Buffalo Festival Chamber Orchestra, Catskill Choral Society, Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra, American Opera and Musical Theatre Company, Orpheus Theatre Company and Grand Opera Theatre.

Founder and Artistic Director of the Hey, Mozart! Project, Rutty's activities have included his work as conductor for numerous organizations, and arranger and pianist for Argentine-Tango performances. He has been Artistic Director of the Hartwick College Summer Music Festival for the 2006 and 2007 seasons.

Alejandro Rutty (Ph.D., SUNY Buffalo) is currently Assistant Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Composer's website »