Rochester, NY — Mexican-born composer Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon has been named associate professor of composition at the Eastman School of Music, effective July 1, 2002. According to Eastman Composition Department Chair Robert Morris, Zohn-Muldoon’s music "unfolds a Latin-American sensibility within a sound-world reminiscent of George Crumb, with whom he studied. Ricardo brings a new compositional voice to our department with his interest and experience in opera."
A member of the composition department at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music since 1997, Zohn-Muldoon’s recent music is highly influenced by author Juan Rulfo, whose works were a catalyst for the Latin-American literary "boom." His opera, which the composer calls a "scenic cantata," is based on Rulfo’s Pedro Páramo, and recently was given three performances by The Furious Band in Mexico City under the auspices of Festival Musica y Escena and Bellas Artes.
At the well-known international contemporary music festival, Gaudeamus Music Week, the Dutch publication Nieuwsblad reviewed Zohn-Muldoon’s Flores del Viento, a chamber work for recorder, percussion, violin, and soprano. The reviewer noted that the work "displays a pure aesthetic, with excellent play of refined, lyrical lines. Zohn-Muldoon proves himself to be a composer in command of invention, understanding musical discourse and small scale refinement."
Zohn-Muldoon’s successes have crossed the United States-Mexico border many times over. His works have been performed by such groups as eighth blackbird, Chicago Contemporary Chamber Players, Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, and San Francisco Contemporary Players. Performances have taken place at ISCM World Music Days, National Public Radio’s "St. Paul Sunday," the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Festival Internacional Cervantino, and Foro Internacional de Musica Nueva. Currently, Zohn-Muldoon is working on commissions by the Cuarteto Latinoamericano, Orquesta de Cámara de Bellas Artes, cellist Juan Hermida, and the Sirius Ensemble, (a grant from the U.S./Mexico Fund for Culture).
After receiving his undergraduate degree in guitar and composition at the University of California at San Diego, Zohn-Muldoon went on to receive both a master’s degree and Ph.D. in composition from the University of Pennsylvania. He also has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship and the Omar del Carlo Fellowship from Tanglewood.
Dr. Zohn-Muldoon will join fellow composers Robert Morris, Allan Schindler, and David Liptak on the Eastman composition faculty.
For more information on the Eastman School, visit www.rochester.edu/Eastman.
###
N.B. Interviews and photos are available.