composer

Awarded First Prize by the prestigious Luxembourg International Composition Prize, Huang Ruo has been cited by the New Yorker as “one of the most intriguing of the new crop of Asian-American composers” and "one of the world's leading young composers." His vibrant and inventive musical voice draws equal inspiration from Chinese folk, Western avant-garde, rock, and jazz to create a seamless, organic integration using a compositional technique he calls “dimensionalism.” Huang Ruo’s writing spans from orchestra, chamber music, opera, theater, and modern dance, to sound installation, multi-media, experimental improvisation, folk rock, and film. Ensembles who have premiered and performed his music include the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Kiel Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Opera Hong Kong, New York City Opera, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Asko Ensemble, Nieuw Ensemble, Ensemble Integrals, Quatuor Diotima, Ethel Quartet, and Tang Quartet, and under conductors such as Wolfgang Sawallisch, Marin Alsop, James Conlon, Dennis Russell Davies, Ed Spanjaard, Xian Zhang, and Ilan Volkov. Huang Ruo's new opera Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, will be given its American premiere by the Santa Fe Opera in 2014. His upcoming commissions include a chamber opera for the Houston Grand Opera and an orchestra work for the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra which will be premiered at the Concertgebouw. Huang Ruo has received awards and grants from the ASCAP Foundation, Presser Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Argosy Foundation, Greenwall Foundation, Meet The Composer, NYSCA, Chamber Music America, American Music Center, Aaron Copland Award, and Alice M. Ditson Award. New York Times critic Allan Kozinn listed his concert as the second on the list of his “Top Ten Classical Moments of 2003.” Huang Ruo’s Chamber Concerto Cycle was released on Naxos in February 2007; Leaving Sao, a work for orchestra and Chinese Folk Voice, was released on Albany Records with his own singing in 2008; and Divergence came out on Koch International in 2009. Huang Ruo's latest CD, To The Four Corners, performed by Future In REverse, was recently released on Naxos Records. Huang Ruo is currently a member of the composition faculty at SUNY Purchase. For more information about Huang Ruo and his music, please visit: www.huangruo.com

Performances

A Thousand Mountains, A Million Streams
Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | April 21, 2018
Concert Details
Gen OrcXstrated
Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | May 17, 2013
Concert Details

News and Press

[Concert Review] New England’s Prospect: Polytropos

Tell me, O Muse, of the generation of many devices, who wandered full many ways. I come to generalize about an entire cohort of composers, based solely—sample size be damned—on the Boston Modern Orchestra Project’s May 17 concert at Jordan Hall. A foolhardy and even dangerous venture, surely? Well, consider it, in part, payback for making me type “Gen OrcXstrated,” which is what BMOP named the program, a collision of letters that I am still not quite sure how to pronounce.

NewMusicBox Full review
[Concert Review] The Boston Musical Intelligencer reviews Gen OrcXstrated

Generation X is a term used by demographers to describe the group of people born after the post-World War II baby boom. For much of the term’s history it has tended to be a little pejorative. There are many cultural events that have shaped their identity including the rise of internet culture as well as the emergence of many musical styles and sub genres including electronic and hip hop.

The Boston Musical Intelligencer Full review
[Concert Review] BMOP celebrates youngish composers in season closer

Ah, classical music—where else in our culture can you be in your mid-30s and be celebrated as part of a youth movement?

A small but enthusiastic audience consisting mostly of Baby Boomers and Greatest Generationers cheered on their juniors in New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall Friday as the Boston Modern Orchestra Project led by Gil Rose presented “Gen OrcXstrated,” a program of three works for large orchestra by composers born in the late 1970s.

Boston Classical Review Full review