Robert Xavier Rodriguez
Biography
Robert Xavier Rodríguez (b. 28 June 1946, San Antonio, Tx.) is an American composer and educator.
Rodríguez received his early musical education in San Antonio and in Austin (UT), Los Angeles (USC), Lenox (Tanglewood), Fontainebleau (Conservatoire Américain) and Paris. His teachers have included Nadia Boulanger, Jacob Druckman, Bruno Maderna and Elliott Carter.
Rodríguez's music has been described as “Romantically dramatic” (Washington Post), “richly lyrical” (Musical America) and “glowing with a physical animation and delicate balance of moods that combine seductively with his all-encompassing sense of humor” (Los Angeles Times). “Its originality lies in the telling personality it reveals. His music always speaks, and speaks in the composer’s personal language.” (American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters). Rodríguez has written in all genres — opera, orchestral, concerto, ballet, vocal, choral, chamber, solo and music for the theater — but he has been drawn most strongly in recent years to works for the stage, including music for children.
Rodríguez first gained international recognition in 1971, when he was awarded the Prix de Composition Musicale Prince Pierre de Monaco by Prince Rainier and Princess Grace at the Palais Princier in Monte Carlo. Other honors include the Prix Lili Boulanger, a Guggenheim Fellowship, awards from ASCAP and the Rockefeller Foundation, five NEA grants, and the Goddard Lieberson Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
Rodríguez has served as composer-in-residence with the San Antonio Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, Bennington College, The Bowdoin Music Festival, the Atlantic Center for the Arts and the American Dance Festival. He currently holds the endowed chair of University Professor of Music and is director of the Musica Nova ensemble at The University of Texas at Dallas. He is also active as a guest lecturer and conductor.
Works for Winds
- Decem Perfectum
- Latin Celebration (Gaudeamus Igitur)
- The Seven Deadly Sins (1985)
- Smash the Windows (2003)
- Tequila Sunrise
Resources
- Robert Xavier Rodriguez website Accessed 8 January 2020
- Smith, Norman E. (2002). Program Notes for Band. Chicago: GIA Publications, pp. 512-513.