Robert Aldridge (born: 1954, Richmond, VA) has written over sixty works for orchestra, opera, music-theater, dance, string quartet, solo and chamber ensembles. His music has been performed throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. He has received numerous fellowships and awards for his music from the Guggenheim Foundation (2002), the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2000), National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Massachusetts Artist’s Foundation, the Lila Wallace/Reader’s Digest Fund, the Oregon Arts Commission and the Portland Arts Council.

His tone poem, Leda and the Swan, a commission from the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, The Nashville Symphony Orchestra, The Louisville Orchestra, and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, was premiered in January, 2003 at the New Jersey Performing Center for the Arts (NJPAC). His opera, Elmer Gantry, based on the novel by Sinclair Lewis, with a libretto by Herschel Garfein, will be given its full stage world premiere by Tulsa Opera in February, 2005. His musical, The Third Person, based on a short story by Henry James, with book and lyrics by Herschel Garfein will be premiered in London during the 200304 season.

He has been commissioned by the renowned chamber orchestra Orpheus, and the LA Chamber Orchestra, to compose a clarinet concerto for David Singer, for premieres in March and May, 2005. He was Composer-in-Residence at the American Dance Festival in 1987, and has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony on five occasions since 1987. In 1989, he was chosen to represent the New York Foundation for the Arts in a solo concert of his music at Lincoln Center.

He was a founder of the Composers in Red Sneakers, a composer consortium which achieved international recognition in the 1980’s. In 1991 he received a National Endowment Recording Grant for a compact-disc of his chamber music for saxophone. Recordings of his music are available on BMG, GM, Foghorn, SoundVision, Open Loop and Northeastern labels. His compositions are published by G. Schirmer and Dorn Publications.

He received a Doctorate in Composition from the Yale School of Music, a Master’s Degree in Composition from the New England Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature from the University of Wisconsin/Madison. He is Assistant Professor of Music at Montclair State University, where he teaches music composition and theory.

Recordings

• 2000 - "Combo Platter", "Millenium Tribute to Adolphe Sax", featuring Albert Regni (AUR Records)
• 1997 - "from my little island", Woodcuts, Nancy Zeltsman, (GM)
• 1996 - "Three Dark Paintings", Music by Robert Aldridge and Roger Bourland (OpenLoop)
• 1995 - "Combo Platter", Marimolin, "Combo Platter" (BMG)
• 1991 - "threedance", Marimolin, "Marimolin" (GM)
• 1989 - "Lullaby of New York", vol. 1 and 2 , arranger and producer (Meldac/Japan Air)
• 1988 - "White Light", The Piano Music of Robert Aldridge; James Brough, piano (Soundvision)
• 1987 - "Combo Platter", The Composers in Red Sneakers (Northeastern)