Robert Xavier Rodriguez, Composer In-Residence, to Perform at UTD

RICHARDSON, Texas (Feb. 12, 2002) – The University of Texas at Dallas will present Composer-In-Residence Robert Xavier Rodríguez conducting a concert of his music in the University Theatre on Monday, March 4, at 8 p.m. Tickets are free for anyone with UTD photo identification and $10 for everyone else.

The program will feature Rodríguez’s cantata, Con Flor y Canto, based on creation texts from the Bible and the ancient Mayan Popol Vuh, along with The Song of Songs, for actor and singer with texts from a story by Sholom Aleichem and the biblical Song of Songs. Other works will include Fanfare from Adoración Ambulante, Fantasia Lussuriosa, Les Niais Amoureux, Chronies and Lull-A-Bear.

Featured soloists will be UTD faculty theater artist Fred Curchack, Metropolitan Opera bass-baritone George Cordes, tenor Kim Childs, mezzo-soprano Suzanne Byrd and pianist Jeff Lankov. The Musica Nova ensemble will perform with The Younger Generation children’s chorus directed by Elizabeth Turner and members of the UTD Chorale directed by Ian Yeung, the Singing Unity Chorus directed by Kim Childs and the Ridgewood Park United Methodist Chorus directed by David Featherstone.

The music of Robert Xavier Rodríguez is regularly performed in American, Latin American and European musical centers, with more than 2,000 professional operatic and orchestral performances in recent seasons. Rodríguez has served as composer-in-residence with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the San Antonio Symphony and the Dallas Symphony. Rodríguez is currently a professor at The University of Texas at Dallas and is active as a guest lecturer and conductor. His music is published by G. Schirmer and is recorded on the Newport, Crystal, Orion, Urtext, Albany and CRI (1999 Grammy nomination) labels.

During the past year, Rodríguez’s activities have included a musical setting of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, for actors, puppets and orchestra, commissioned by the Boston Symphony. In addition, Rodríguez supervised the European premieres of his opera, Frida, at the Vienna Schauspielhaus and his Meta 4 at the Palais des Ducs in Dijon, France, served as composer-in-residence at the Aaron Copland House in Peekskill, New York, and participated in the recent Concierto de la Esperanza in Mexico City, which featured his Con Flor y Canto. This spring, UTD will present A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Fred Curchack, with the world premiere of a new Rodríguez score.