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 amba ...

from 1977 to 2010.

Biography

Born in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, 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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

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 () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

, Austria, studying classical composition and jazz piano. In

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

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 and ...

repertory of American jazz composers such as

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D ...

. 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. Ano ...

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 Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

. 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 The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

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 i ...

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

Upper Austria Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states 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, and Salzburg (state), Salzbur ...

Discography

With the

* '' Tango from Obango'' (Art, 1980) * '' Concerto Piccolo'' (Hat ART, 1981) * '' Suite for the Green Eighties'' (Hat ART, 1982) * '' From No Time to Rag Time'' (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