Robert Aldridge has written more than 60 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), American Academy of Arts and Letters (2000), National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Meet the Composer, New Jersey State Council on the Arts and Portland Arts Council.

Leda and the Swan, a tone poem commissioned by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra and Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, premiered in January 2003 at the New Jersey Performing Center for the Arts (NJPAC). In November 2007, the Nashville Opera gave the fully staged world premiere of Elmer Gantry, based on the novel by Sinclair Lewis, with a libretto by Herschel Garfein. Aldridge has been Composer-in-Residence at the Brevard Music Festival since 2006. He is Director of the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University, where he is also an Associate Professor of Music Composition and Theory.

LEARN MORE:

Visit Robert Aldridge’s website, where you can read his philosophy about connecting with the audience, listen to several audio clips of his works and read reviews.

Read a Q&A with Montclair State University’s INSIGHT Online magazine.

Watch this video to experience his music.