Richard Aldag
“[…] five Stars – Intellectually stimulating, emotionally rewarding.”
-Fanfare Magazine
“[…] viscerally and intellectually stimulating, emotionally satisfying, and surprisingly entertaining.”
-Fanfare Magazine
“[…] the evening’s most potent offering.”
-San Francisco Chronicle
Meet Richard Aldag
Richard Aldag is an American-born composer, educator, and arts administrator. Aldag’s compositional style can be loosely described as Neo-Expressionism, combining lyricism with rhythmic energy in a post-tonal context that is complex, yet accessible at the same time. Influences include the music of Roger Sessions, Luigi Dallapiccola, and Ralph Shapey. He has received commissions from such diverse entities the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the Queens Symphony’s “Sounds from the Left Bank,” Trio Versailles, Earplay, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, cellist Zuill Bailey, and Chamber Music San Francisco (for Calefax). Aldag has served as Composer-in-Residence for the Sitka Summer Music Festival (2014) and the El Paso Pro Music Chamber Music Festival (2015).
Aldag has served on the faculties of San Francisco State University, San José State University School of Music and Dance, Pacific Union College, the Aaron Copland School of Music of Queens College, Fordham University, and the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. He served as a special lecturer in music composition and contemporary American music at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1991 and 1992.
In addition to his work as composer and educator, Aldag has held administrative positions that include Interim Executive Director of San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (2021), Interim Director of Chamber Music San Francisco (2020-2021), Executive Director of Mill Valley Philharmonic (2018-2020), Executive Director of the Napa Valley Symphony (2006-2011); Executive Director of Lincoln Theater Napa Valley (2009-2011); Executive Director of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra (2002-2007), Executive Director of Los Lupeños de San José (1998-2000); and Director of the Silicon Valley Youth Conservatory at San José State University (1995-1998).
His 2019 CD on Albany Records (funded in part by grants from InterMusic SF and the Alice M. Ditson Fund for Music), Broadway Boogie-Woogie, received critical acclaim and was nominated for a GRAMMY® Award.