Born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria into a family of visual artists, Juan Manuel Ruíz is a composer and Corresponding Resident Academician of the Royal Canarian Academy of Fine Arts of San Miguel Arcángel (RACBA).
Based in Madrid, he holds a degree as Professor of Guitar from the Royal Conservatory of Music. He studied composition with Juan José Falcón Sanabria, Valentín Ruíz, and Agustín González Acilu, and attended specialized courses and masterclasses with Leo Brouwer, Salvatore Sciarrino, and Brian Ferneyhough.
His musical output includes works for solo instruments, chamber music, stage works, mixed media, and symphonic music. He has received major commissions, including from the 23rd Canary Islands Music Festival (2007) for Nebula for large orchestra; the 13th International Guitar Festival of the Canary Islands (2003) for Travesía sonora for guitar and orchestra; Fundación Orquesta y Coro de Madrid (2016) for the symphonic-choral cantata Shibboleth; Fundación Sax-Ensemble; La Folía Ensemble; the Quantum Ensemble; and the Program for Cultural Cooperation for American guitarist Adam Levin. He also composed the compulsory contemporary piano work for the 55th Jaén International Piano Competition (2013).
He was honored at the 18th “Compositores de España” International Piano Competition (Las Rozas, Madrid), in the edition dedicated to his work, and named “Padrino de Excepción” of the 5th Laureates Concert of the Master’s Degree in Composition with New Technologies at UNIR.
His compositions have been performed by internationally renowned conductors and ensembles, including Leonard Slatkin, Gerd Albrecht, Maximiano Valdés, and Víctor Pablo Pérez; the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, the Spanish National Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestras of Asturias, Galicia, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, and the Canary Islands Youth Orchestra (JOCAN); RTVE Choir; guitarists Eduardo Fernández and Adam Levin; the Frank Stadler Quartet (Salzburg), Kammerensemble Modern der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Sax-Ensemble, the baroque group La Folía, Ensemble Kuraia, and Ensemble PHACE (Vienna).
His music has been premiered and programmed at major festivals and venues across Spain, the USA, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, the UK, Italy, Montenegro, and Venezuela, including: National Auditorium of Music (Madrid), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Konzerthaus (Vienna), Cadogan Hall (London), Lehman Theatre (Miami), Kleiner Konzertsaal (Munich), Auditorio Alfredo Kraus, Auditorio de Tenerife, Auditorio Príncipe Felipe (Oviedo), Teatro La Laboral (Gijón), Auditorio de Cuenca, Auditorio de Ferrol, Palacio de la Ópera (A Coruña), Palau de la Música (Valencia), Fundación BBVA (Bilbao), Teatro Real, Círculo de Bellas Artes, Fundación Juan March, Fundación Canal, Conde Duque Auditorium, Teatros del Canal, the Madrid Contemporary Music Festival (COMA), Auditorio Tres Cantos Festival, Día de Canarias Concert (2006), Música para el Tercer Milenio series, Islas Sonoras (Madrid), Música Contemporánea desde Canarias (Septenio Series), Autunno Musicale (Italy), Festival Chitarristico della Toscana (2007), Bar Guitar Festival (Montenegro), Instituto Cervantes of Berlin, Bremen, and Manchester, Latin American Music Festival (Caracas), Chicago Latino Music Festival and Expo Chicago Art Week (2014), and the Cuenca Sacred Music Week.
He is represented by EMEC and has recordings on several labels, including NAXOS Records, Fundación Autor, Sello Autor, RALS, Orpheus Classical, IBS Classical, and RNE’s Radio Clásica.
He received the “Special Mention of the Jury,” unanimously, at the 3rd International Composition Competition “Isla de La Gomera” (2001) for his string orchestra work Eón.
He currently collaborates as a music critic for the prestigious Spanish music magazine RITMO.
Links:
Juan Manuel Ruiz. Compositor: Biografía/Biography (juanmanuelruizcompositor.blogspot.com)
Académico Correspondiente Residente