Annual American Composers Update
Robert Xavier Rodriguez
Living in Richardson, TX, Robert Xavier
Rodriguez works as Professor of Music at the University
of Texas at Dallas and as Composer-in-Residence with
the San Antonio Symphony. The 1999 Grammy-nominated
CRI
CD
Voces Americanas, performed by Voices of Change,
features his piece
Les Niais Amoureux (1989).
Premieres
On May 7, 1999, Christopher Wilkins
led the San Antonio Symphony in the first performance
of
Bachanale -- Concertino for Orchestra (
G.
Schirmer), a work based on themes of J. S. Bach.
The closing concert of the Miami Festival was an all-Rodriguez
program featuring the premiere of
Forbidden Fire
(
G. Schirmer),
for bass-baritone, double chorus, and orchestra, Oct.
17, 1998, at the University of Miami, with conductor
Thomas Sleeper and soloists George Cordes, Rodney Nolan,
and Bob Dorough.
Performances
Also heard at the University of Miami
program, with conductor Sleeper, soloist Cordes, and
narrator Dorough, were Scrooge, Con Flor y Canto,
and Varmi'ts!. In spring 1999, Monkey See,
Monkey Do had over 60 performances on the Dallas
Opera's tour with a puppet troup, and 30 performances
at the University of Colorado with live singers. Tango
has been sung at the University of Denver, Apr. 1998;
at the University of Texas, Dallas, Oct. 1998, with
soloist Paul Sperry, conducted by the composer; and
in Spanish with the Voices of Change, Dallas, Feb. 1999,
with Rodriguez conducting and soloist Rafael Alvarez.
In 1998, Fanfare for Four Trumpets and Four Conch
Shells was on programs of the National Symphony,
under Sir Raymond Leppard (June), and the New World
Symphony (Sept.). Colorful Symphony was played
by the Chicago Symphony, under Yaron Traub, Nov. 1998,
and by the Milwaukee Symphony, Apr. 1999.
Publications
Forbidden Fire, Bachanale: Concertino
for Orchestra; both by
G.
Schirmer.
Recordings
Les Niais Amoureux, Voices of
Change;
CRI
Voces Americanas.
Further Information
