Huang Ruo 黃若 | |
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 Huang at the 2012Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 1976 (age 48–49) Qionghai,Hainan, China |
| Origin | China |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, pianist and vocalist |
| Website | https://huangruo.com |
Huang Ruo (黃若, born 1976) is aChinese-born composer, pianist and vocalist who now lives in theUnited States.[1][2]
Born onHainan Island off the southern coast ofChina in 1976, Huang was taught piano and composition from the age of six by his father, a well-known Chinese composer. When he was 12, he was admitted to theShanghai Conservatory of Music where he was instructed in bothtraditional Chinese and western music by Deng Erbo. In 1995, after winning the Henry Mancini Award at the International Film and Music Festival in Switzerland, he continued his education in theUnited States at theOberlin Conservatory of Music inOhio and at theJuilliard School inNew York City where he studied composition withSamuel Adler, receiving a doctorate.[3]
In 2001, Huang was one of the founding members of theInternational Contemporary Ensemble, an orchestral group of some 30 musicians which often performs works by European, Latin American, and Asian composers. In 2005, he founded the performance company, Future in Reverse (FIRE), specializing in multimedia and cross-genre projects.[4][2]
In 2010, Huang's composition "The Yellow Earth" won the Celebrate Asia! composition competition. It was performed by theSeattle Symphony at a concert in January 2011. The piece is a rearrangement of the third movement of hissheng concerto "The Color Yellow" which brings together music produced by a Chinese instrument accompanied by a Western orchestra.[5]
In 2015-2016, Huang was the first composer-in-residence ofThe Concertgebouw.
Huang Ruo's aesthetic is his attempt to "define connections between space, time, and sound. It is related to architecture and modern art in general, which I am a big lover of."[2]
Describing dimensionalism in detail Ruo writes,
"The structure of two-dimensional art, in my opinion, cries out to be put in perspective with more and more in-depth experiences than are visible on the canvas. In architecture I find so much newness; it is an art form that can reinvent itself constantly by changing how it relates to its environment, not only on the outside but on the inside as well. I think about music that way — in many dimensions — as space, time, color, and sound. Shapes of music are also dimensional, aren’t they? I feel music is life, breathing and moving. When you sit in front of the stage at a performance, you get trapped. One should be able to walk around the sound source, or be surrounded by it. But since sound moves as well, I like to imagine sound being a solid matter, and try to describe it in abstract shapes and colors. Seeing it through different lighting would change its appearance constantly, creating a variety of endless possibilities"
— Dr. Huang Ruo, The Seattle Pi, 2011
Christina Mamakos, who has created an installation combining Huang's music with a video in June 2011, defines the technique he calls "dimensionalism." In aesthetic terms, she defines the term as "Using an inventive musical voice which draws equal inspiration from Chinese folk, western avant-garde, rock and jazz, Ruo creates a seamless series of musical works that do not necessarily exist in the sound world of our daily life."[2]
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