Poul Ruders (born 27 March 1949) is a Danish composer.

Life

Born in

Ringsted Ringsted is a city located centrally in the Danish island of Zealand. It is the seat of a municipality of the same name. Ringsted is situated approximately 60 km from Copenhagen. Tourism and transport Ringsted is one of Denmark's busies ...

, Ruders trained as an

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational h ...

, and studied orchestration with

Karl Aage Rasmussen Karl Aage Rasmussen (born 13 December 1947 in Kolding, Denmark) is a Danish composer and writer. Composition Quotation and particularly collage played an important role in his music from the early 1970s, but increasingly he used pre-existing m ...

. Ruders's first compositions date from the mid-1960s. Ruders regards his own compositional development as a gradual one, with his true voice emerging with the chamber concerto, ''Four Compositions'', of 1980. His notable students include

Marc Mellits Marc Mellits (born 1966) is an American composer and musician. Mellits was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He studied at the Eastman School of Music from 1984 to 1988, at the Yale School of Music from 1989 to 1991, at Cornell University from 1991 ...

. Writing about Ruders, the English critic Stephen Johnson states: "He can be gloriously, explosively extrovert one minute – withdrawn, haunted, intently inward-looking the next. Super-abundant high spirits alternate with pained, almost expressionistic lyricism; simplicity and directness with astringent irony." Minor planet 5888 Ruders discovered by

Eleanor Helin Eleanor Francis "Glo" Helin (née Francis, 19 November 1932 – 25 January 2009) was an American astronomer. She was principal investigator of the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. (Some sources gi ...

and Schelte J. Bus is named after him.

Music

Ruders has created a large body of music ranging from opera and orchestral works through chamber, vocal and solo music in a variety of styles, from the

Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widesprea ...

pastiche of his first

violin concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

(1981) to the explosive modernism of ''Manhattan Abstraction'' (1982). Other works include the operas ''Tycho'' (1986), ''

The Handmaid's Tale ''The Handmaid's Tale'' is a futuristic dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood and published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England in a patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state known as the Republic of Gilead, which ...

'' (1990, with libretto by Paul Bentley), ''Proces Kafka/ Kafka's Trial'' (2005, again with libretto by Bentley), '' Selma Ježková'' (2007, after Trier's ‘

Dancer in the Dark ''Dancer in the Dark'' is a 2000 musical drama film written and directed by Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier. It stars Icelandic musician Björk as a factory worker who suffers from a degenerative eye condition and is saving for an operation to p ...

’), and the fairytale opera''

The Thirteenth Child ''The Thirteenth Child'' is an English-language opera in two acts, composed by Danish composer Poul Ruders in 2016, to a libretto by Ruders manager Becky Starobin and her husband, guitarist David Starobin. The opera, Ruders fifth, is inspired by t ...

'' (2016), five symphonies, four string quartets, Violin Concerto No. 1 (1981), ''Etude and Ricercare'' (1994) for guitar, for David Starobin, ''The Bells'' (songs) with

Lucy Shelton Lucy Shelton is an American soprano best known for her performance of contemporary music. She graduated from The Putney School in 1961 and Pomona College in 1965. The only artist to receive the International Walter W. Naumberg Award twice (as a ...

, soprano, and the ''Christmas Gospel'' (1994) and two

piano sonata A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement ( Scarlatti, Liszt, Scriabin, Medtner, Berg), others with ...

s; ''Abysm'' (2000) for

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) is a British chamber ensemble based in Birmingham, England specialising in the performance of new and contemporary music. BCMG performs regularly at the CBSO Centre and Symphony Hall in Birmingham, tour ...

. Ruders has written several works for the American guitarist and promoter of new music David Starobin: ''Psalmodies'' (1989) and ''Paganini Variations'' for guitar and orchestra (1999–2000), and ''Psalmodies Suite'' (1990), ''Etude and Ricercare'' (1994) and ''Chaconne'' (1996) for solo

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

. Ruders has composed a ''Concerto in Pieces'' (1995), which is a set of variations on the "Witches' Chorus" from Purcell's opera ''

Dido and Aeneas ''Dido and Aeneas'' (Z. 626) is an opera in a prologue and three acts, written by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate. The dates of the composition and first performance of the opera are uncertain. It was com ...

''. His fourth symphony, ''An organ symphony'', (with a significant part for organ) was a joint international commission by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra,

Odense Symphony Orchestra The Odense Symphony Orchestra (Odense Symfoniorkester) is a Danish symphony orchestra based in Odense. The orchestra is resident in the Odense Concert Hall (inaugurated in 1982), specifically in the Carl Nielsen Hall (seating capacity of 1,212). ...

and the

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. It is the resident orchestra at Symphony Hall: a B:Music Venue in Birmingham, which has been its principal performance venue since 1991. Its a ...

. The world premiere took place in the

Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center The Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center is a concert hall located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas ( USA). Ranked one of the world's greatest orchestra halls, it was designed by architect I.M. Pei and acoustician Russell Johnson's ...

, Dallas, Texas, 20 January 2011.

References

External links

Ruders' websitePer Erland Rasmussen, Acoustical Canvases – The Music of Poul Ruders' (2007), DMT Publishing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruders, Poul 1949 births Living people People from Ringsted 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers Danish classical composers Danish male classical composers Composers for the classical guitar Danish opera composers Male opera composers 20th-century Danish male musicians 21st-century male musicians