Mathias Rüegg (born 8 December 1952) is a European musician, composer, and bandleader best known as founder and director of the

Vienna Art Orchestra The Vienna Art Orchestra was a European jazz group based in Vienna, Austria. Organized at different times as either a big band or as a smaller combo, it was regarded as one of the leading European jazz ensembles and was an official cultural ambas ...

from 1977 to 2010.

Biography

Born in Zurich, Switzerland, son of linguist Robert Rüegg,Mathias Rüegg, ''Lettera a mia figlia sul nonno Robert'', in Robert Rüegg, ''Sulla geografia linguistica dell'italiano parlato'', Firenze, Cesati, 2016, pp. 19-22. Mathias Rüegg began playing

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

in secondary school. Trained as a schoolteacher, he taught for a while in special-needs schools. From 1973 to 1975 he attended the Musikhochschule in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popu ...

, Austria, studying classical composition and jazz piano. In

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

he performed in a nightclub as a solo jazz pianist, joined later by saxophonist

Wolfgang Puschnig Wolfgang Puschnig (born 21 May 1956 in Klagenfurt, Austria) is an Austrian jazz musician (saxophone, flute, bass clarinet) and composer. Biography After his studies of saxophone and flute at the Vienna Conservatory Puschnig was the founding ...

. The duo formed the core of an ensemble that in 1977 became the

. Rüegg's distinctive, often humorous compositions have drawn on a range of influences, from traditional folk music to classics. He has also led the VAO to explore the

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

repertory of American jazz composers such as

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was ba ...

. Besides the traditional big-band complement, his orchestrations have prominently featured such instruments as the tuba, piccolo, bass clarinet, alphorn, exotic percussion, and wordless vocals. Rüegg has composed hundreds of pieces for the Vienna Art Orchestra, other European

s, and classical orchestras, as well as

theatre music Theatre music refers to a wide range of music composed or adapted for performance in theatres. Genres of theatre music include opera, ballet and several forms of musical theatre, from pantomime to operetta and modern stage musicals and revues. A ...

and

film music A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

. Since 1994 he has composed several works for soloist and chamber orchestra. Besides managing the VAO, Rüegg has conducted workshops in Europe, worked as artistic director for music festivals, and headed multimedia and music-related projects. From 1983 to 1987 he directed the Vienna Art Choir. In 1991, he produced the film ''Mozart's Balls'', commissioned by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

for the 1991 Mozart Year. Rüegg founded the Porgy & Bess music club in Vienna and the Hans Koller Prize for Austrian jazz. In 2011, in New York he composed the music for the new show of the

Big Apple Circus The Big Apple Circus is a circus based in New York City. Opened in 1977, later becoming a nonprofit organization, it became a tourist attraction. The circus has been known for its community outreach programs, including Clown Care, as well as it ...

. In 2013, he arranged for and played piano for singer Lia Pale from Wels,

Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, an ...

Discography

With the

* ''

Tango from Obango ''Tango from Obango'' is the debut album by European jazz group the Vienna Art Orchestra (credited as Wiener Art Orchester) which was first released in 1980 on the Art label.

'' (Art, 1980) * '' Concerto Piccolo'' (Hat ART, 1981) * '' Suite for the Green Eighties'' (Hat ART, 1982) * ''

From No Time to Rag Time ''From No Time to Rag Time'' is an album by European jazz group the Vienna Art Orchestra featuring variations on compositions by Anthony Braxton, Ornette Coleman, Scott Joplin, Hans Koller, Charles Mingus, Fritz Pauer, Bud Powell and Roswell Rudd w ...

'' (Hat ART, 1983) * '' The Minimalism of Erik Satie'' (Hat ART, 1984) * '' A Notion in Perpetual Motion'' (Hat ART, 1985) * ''Blues for Brahms'' (Amadeo, 1989) * ''Third Dream'' (Extraplatte, 2009) With others * ''Mel-an-Cho'' with Herbert Joos (Plane, 1981) * ''From No Art to Mo(Z)Art'' with Vienna Art Choir (Moers Music, 1983) * ''Five Old Songs'' with Vienna Art Choir (Moers Music, 1984)

References

External links

Vienna Art Orchestra

mathias ruegg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruegg, Mathias 1952 births Living people Experimental big band bandleaders Swiss jazz musicians Musicians from Vienna Vienna Art Orchestra members