Rodriguez Ortiz, Alberto

“Rodríguez (Ortiz) demonstrates that is possible to use caribbean rhythms from an abstract perspective without falling into banal folklorism”. Luis Hernándel Mergal, El Nuevo Día.

Guitarist and composer Alberto Rodríguez Ortiz is characterized by successfully bringing new aesthetic trends to the most demanding public, demonstrating that music is still an art in constant transformation and development.

This combination of technique, musicality and stage presence has led him to participate in important concert series and festivals in the Caribbean, North America, Central America and Europe.  In 1997 was composer in residence for Rome Festival (Rome, Italy).

His compositions have been performed in major international halls such as: Weill Recital Hall in Nueva York; La Salle Cortot and Casa France-Ameriques in París, the Endler Hall in Cape Town, South-Africa and the Pablo Casals Hall, San Juan, PR.  He has received commissions for compositions from the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, Carvajal Foundation, Camerata Caribe, Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, Turabo University, Inter-American Arts Festival of Puerto Rico, Orchestra and Choir of the School of Political Sciences in Paris, Eladio Scharrón and from the Fourte Guitar Quartet.

On his symphonic work “Los colores de una noche negra”, Luis Hernández Mergal wrote for the newspaper El Nuevo Día: “Played with evident relish by OSPR and accurately directed by maestro Maximiano Valdes, “Los colores de una noche negra” was revealed as a significant contribution to contemporary Puerto Rican music repertoire”.  On the premiere of his symphonic poem “El manco de Lepanto op. 36”, Hernández Mergal said: “This world premiere commissioned by the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra (OSPR) and presented at the Symphony Hall of the Performing Arts Center in Santurce under the baton of Maximiano Valdes, was testimony that the country has another symphonic composer of great talent”.  On the premiere of his “Concierto para guitarra y orquesta op. 38”, Luis Enrique Juliá wrote for El Nuevo Día: “"it is a magnificent addition to the classical repertoire of the instrument of six strings…"

He has written music for theater and documentaries as well.  In 2018 the documentary “El coleccionista” (The Collector), one of his musical works for that media, received a Suncoast Emmy Award for Best Historical Documentary.

In 2001, he received the “Diplôme de Composition” from the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, in 1997 he obtained a Masters in Music and Literature (Guitar) from Eastman School of Music in New York and in 1995 a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Puerto Rico.  Currently he is Associate Professor of Classical Guitar at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico and Artist in Residence at the Ana G. Méndez University in Gurabo, Puerto Rico.  He also taught History of Puerto Rican Music, Music Appreciation and conducted the Institutional Band at the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón for 3 years.  For the last 6 years, he has been invited lecturer for the Asociación Pro-Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico (Association for the Puerto Rico´s Symphony Orchestra).

In addition to “Danzando al son de tambores”, he has to his credit two solo recordings: “Homenaje a Héctor Campos Parsi” (2004) and “Densidades” (2007), all under his own label Nueva Venecia.  Among the artists who have recorded his compositions commercially are: Camerata Caribe, Scharrón-Wiesinger Duo, Nicholas Goluses, Pedro Rodrigues, David Ortiz Angleró and Rodríguez Ortiz Duo.