BEHOLD THE STARS
2021 · Signum Classics
AN EVERLASTING DAWN
2017 · Perseus Records
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 “unabashedly tonal” (BBC Music Magazine) and “impeccably crafted [music]” (Apple Music) is in high demand amongst prestigious artists and ensembles. Recent commissioners include award-winning choir Tenebrae, soprano Grace Davidson, violinist Kerenza Peacock and Mexico’s National System of Musical Endowment (SNFM). His compositions have been performed in Europe, America and Africa by world-class musicians and ensembles such as Sir Huw Watkins, Laura van der Heijden (BBC Young Musician Award 2012), Christopher Glynn (GRAMMY® Award Winner), Grace Davidson, Kerenza Peacock, Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de México, Alison Farr, Massimo Spada, José Miguel Rodilla and Rodrigo Sierra Moncayo, to name a few.
The Mexican-American composer’s award-winning compositions are published by Universal Edition. He is also part of the star-studded artist roster of Signum Classics (2017 Grammophone Magazine Label of the Year). In 2021, Ruiz 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, included in Apple Music’s Top 10 Albums of the Month, and given a stellar review (★★★★) from BBC Music Magazine; the album was also proposed for a nomination for the 2022 Latin GRAMMY® Awards.
His compositional talent was recognised since his early teens: in 2002 he won the Outstanding Composition Award at the Second Piano Biennal Competition, awarded by the State of Baja California for his first composition, the Piano Sonata (R. 1). In 2008, still in his teens, he became the first generation of Young Artist Fellows at Talentos Artísticos: Valores de Baja California, a programme of Mexico’s Cultural Institute of Baja California (ICBC).
Ruiz’s orchestral music is enriched by his work as a conductor. 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 has conducted in several continentes, in countries including Mexico, United States, Germany, Italy and Brazil, and has collaborated with distinguished soloists and orchestras such as La Jolla Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Orquesta Mexicana de las Artes, Orquestra Sinfónica de Universidade São Paolo, University of Michigan’s Symphony Orchestra, Community Youth Orchestra of Southern California, UM Gilbert and Sullivan Society, Mauricio Nader, Farizat Tchibirova, Francisco Cedillo, Thomas Cilluffo, Francesca Chiejina, Andrea Fortier.
He holds a Bachelor of Music cum laude in Piano Performance from Lawrence University. He received his Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Michigan where he was the recipient of the merit-based scholarship of the School of Music, Theatre and Dance, studying under Kenneth Kiesler. He spent five years in a composition specialisation in Italy, studying with the eminent Francesco Telli of the Conservatorio Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Later, through the generous help of the prestigious Joseph Campbell Scholarship, he attended the intensive Mythological Studies programme at Pacifica Graduate Institute during 2020/21.
Ruiz speaks fluent Spanish, English, French and Italian; he also speaks German and is fascinated by literature, mythology and ancient languages, including Greek, Latin, Nahuatl and Sanskrit