50 Years and Beyond: Notes in Composing a Colorful Career

By the age of 6, most children know the words to and can sing simple children's songs. When Dr. Robert Xavier Rodríguez was 6, he composed and performed his first piece of music.

"My father's father played in the San Antonio Symphony, and my mother's father was a poet in Mexico," he said. "So, it was natural that I would create music of my own."

Since that first, early composition - "I hope no one ever finds it" - Rodríguez, professor of music at The University of Texas at Dallas, has gone on to compose 151 published works for opera, orchestra, chamber orchestra, theater, dance, voice and chorus.

Before Rodríguez's full-time career began, a fortuitous series of events brought him to UT Dallas. As the young composer prepared to graduate with his master's degree from UT Austin in 1968, he sought advice from the chair of the university's music department - Dr. Bryce Jordan. Jordan directed him to the University of Southern California, where Rodríguez earned his doctorate in musical arts in composition.

In 1975, Jordan, who had become UTD's first president four years earlier, was seeking to start the University's first arts and humanities program, and he hired Rodríguez.

"I was among the very first faculty hired for the School of Arts and Humanities," he said. "There are only two of us who are still here 50 years later."

The School of Arts and Humanities in 2022 merged with the School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication to form a new school, now named the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology.

Rodríguez, who holds the Chair of Art and Aesthetic Studies, first gained international recognition in 1971 when he was awarded the Prix de Composition Musicale from the Prince Pierre of Monaco Foundation. Since then, he has received numerous awards and honors, including a 1999 Grammy nomination for a recording of his "Les Niais Amoureux," a piece he wrote for the Voices of Change chamber music ensemble.

Rodríguez has been called "one of the major American composers of his generation" by Texas Monthly. He calls his style of composing "modern."

"I enjoy looking from the present back to earlier times, incorporating earlier styles in my work, but always from a modern perspective," he said.

Works by Rodríguez have been performed by numerous music organizations, including the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He is regularly sought out for commissioned compositions by various organizations.

He said it is important to create works that are interesting to any listener.

"I want my music to be immediately appealing to an audience, but I also want there to be layers of meaning that will draw performers and audiences back for repeated hearings," he said.

Dr. Nils Roemer, dean of the Bass School, holder of the Arts, Humanities, and Technology Distinguished University Chair, director of the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies, and the Stan and Barbara Rabin Distinguished Professor in Holocaust Studies, said Rodríguez's passion for teaching and conducting student musicians is evident.

"UT Dallas orchestra students are so fortunate to be taught by someone who intimately understands music and so expertly brings the written score to life," he said. "He has provided such a solid foundation to the arts program at UTD, and he continues to make a difference in the lives of students who love music."

Dr. Jonathan Palant, associate dean of the arts and director of choral activities in the Bass School, said Rodríguez has a musical style that sets him apart from his contemporaries. He noted Rodríguez's opera, "Frida," which he cited as one of the composer's most famous works.

"It's a beautiful portrayal of Frida Kahlo's life," said Palant, "with great depth to the music but also levity when appropriate."

Rodríguez said his favorite composition is "A Colorful Symphony," which is based on a chapter from Norton Juster's classic children's book The Phantom Tollbooth. Commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1987, it's about a magical orchestra that plays the colors into the world.

"I tend to be drawn to opera and works for the stage," he said. "I think people are more interesting than musical instruments."

Even as Rodríguez pens musical pieces, he remains dedicated to his UTD students, to teaching classes and to leading his Advanced Orchestra/Chamber Music Ensemble, known as Musica Nova.

Reflecting on the collaborative nature of the University, he is proud to point out that the students who make up Musica Nova are all nonmusic majors.

"The students are scientists, business majors or computer science majors; there's no requirement for them to participate," Rodríguez said. "They're here because they love music."

Rodríguez said he has remained at UTD for the past 50 years because it continues to be a fun place to work and because of the unique interdisciplinary nature of the University. He said he has enjoyed the classes he has co-taught with professors who teach history, literature, visual arts, physics, biology and psychology.

"Where but at UTD could such wonderful things happen?" he said. "I'm looking forward to the next 50 years."

Concert Celebrates Rodríguez with Playful Tones of Love

Dr. Robert Xavier Rodríguez, professor of music at The University of Texas at Dallas, marked his 50th anniversary at the University by sharing his lifelong passion for composing.

Rodríguez, who has written more than 150 works and continues to compose music, celebrated the milestone with a multimedia concert called "Playful Reflections on Love," which highlighted three of his pieces inspired by romantic stories and poems. Rodríguez holds the Chair of Art and Aesthetic Studies in the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology.

"It is a privilege to celebrate the extraordinary career and artistry of Dr. Robert Xavier Rodríguez," Dr. Jonathan Palant, director of choral activities and associate dean of the arts, told the audience at the Sept. 6 concert in the University Theatre. "Professor Rodríguez was among the pioneering arts and humanities faculty at UT Dallas coming here in 1975. Since then, he has gone on to become one of the major American composers of his generation."

The concert featured pieces that gave sound to a short story from Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, poems from e.e. cummings and a children's book from author Norton Juster.

Early in his career, Rodríguez said his teacher in Paris told him that he would only be half a composer until he learned to embrace laughter. He has taken that advice to heart in many of his works, including "Romance with a Double Bass," based on a Chekhov story about a double bass player who was on his way to play for a princess' wedding when he stopped for a swim in a lake and became lovestruck by a woman who was fishing.

Narrated by Dallas actress and singer Mary-Margaret Pyeatt, pianist Mikhail Berestnev and bassist Daniel Nix provided musical accompaniment that playfully captured the fictional characters' doomed flirtation.

The second piece, Rodríguez said, was a gift for his goddaughter, who slipped a copy of one of cummings' poems that she had read at her wedding into his pocket.

"She stuffed it in my pocket as if to say, 'This is for you to make music for me,'" Rodríguez said.

Soprano singer Haley Sicking performed "Six Songs of E.E. Cummings" to an offbeat piano accompaniment and, in the final song, sang the roles of two characters.

The final piece, "The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics," based on Juster's illustrated children's book, punctuated a dramatic grand finale that featured a flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, harp and distinctive percussion sounds from a ratchet and a slide whistle. Even a booming "lion's roar" on a bass drum was deployed during a dramatic stop. The composition complemented the story of a love triangle between a line, a dot and a squiggly mass.

Fred Curchack, professor of arts and performance, narrated the piece, directed by Héctor Guzmán, who is music director of the Plano and Irving Symphony Orchestras. Curchack gave the dot a humorous high-pitched voice with a Brooklyn accent to portray her initial disdain for the uninteresting line.

Applied cognition and neuroscience graduate student Minjun Joung BS'24 watched the performance with Eun Jin "Jinny" Han, a psychology doctoral student.

"I've never seen anything like this, but it's amazing," said Han, who admitted she was initially confused by the musical collaborations.

"I didn't know the story of the dot and line would be so interesting," Joung said.

Global business and marketing senior Omer Ahmed said that listening to Sicking "took me back to my choir days."

"I love the narrations, especially in 'The Dot and the Line," he said. "It was really cool to hear our faculty. The piece felt like a play that invoked certain emotions through visual elements, music and narration."

Biochemistry junior Katie Ellis said she enjoyed the performance, which was unlike anything she had seen before.

"It wasn't what I was expecting," she said.

The concert story was reported and written by communications manager Veronica Gonzalez.