Robert (Livingston) Aldridge

Robert Aldridge was born in Richmond, VA in 1954. His compositions include over sixty works for orchestra, opera, music-theater, dance, string quartet, solo and chamber ensembles, with recordings of his work available on BMG, GM, Foghorn, SoundVision, Open Loop and Northeastern. His music has been performed throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan, and he has received numerous fellowships and commissions. He received a Doctorate in Composition from the Yale School of Music, and teaches composition and theory at Montclair State University.

As both a teacher and composer, Aldridge is a staunch advocate for "audience-building." Says Aldridge, "Many of my students at Montclair State University, and remarkably even some music majors, have never attended a professional classical music concert. I want to teach these students something about classical music, but most important, I want them to love this music, so that they will go to classical concerts and purchase classical recordings and listen to classical music on the radio. We must build our audience by communicating how great this music is, and showing our own passion for it."