Aruán Ortiz Trio

Named “one of the most creative and original composers in the world” (Lynn René Bailey, The Art Music Lounge), pianist, violist, and composer Aruán Ortiz—born in Santiago de Cuba, and resident of Brooklyn, NY—has been an active figure in the progressive jazz and avant-garde scene in the US for more than 15 years.

Recently, Aruán has channeled his sound through avant-garde and progressive jazz, serial music, and the contemporary classical composing idiom, and his work has been informed by an array of subjects, reflecting his eclectic musical identity. His trio effort, "Hidden Voices" (Intakt Records, 2016), was inspired by architectural patterns and information drawn from non-musical contexts; his solo album, "Cub(an)ism" (Intakt Records, 2017), was given five starts by the prestigious Downbeat magazine, and was described as "a genius exercise in the exploration of depth and perception that reveals a bright new wrinkle in the relationship between music and mathematics, reimagining Afro-Haitian Gaga rhythms, Afro-Cuban rumba and Yambú into heavily improvised meditations on modernism that recall John Cage and Paul Bley” (Ron Hart, The Observer).

During his career, Aruán has played, toured, or recorded with jazz luminaries such as Wadada Leo Smith,Don Byron, Pheeroan AkLaff, Greg Osby, Gary Thomas, Wallace Roney, Nicole Mitchell, William Parker,Adam Rudolph, Andrew Cyrille, Henry Grimes, Oliver Lake, Rufus Reid, Terri Lyne Carrington, JD Allen, Esperanza Spalding, and has collaborated with choreographer José Mateo, filmmaker Ben Chace, poet Terrance McNight; Abiodun Oyewole from The Last Poets, and photographer and visual artists Holger Thoss and Paul Lorenz.

He holds a master of fine arts in music composition with a focus in contemporary classical music from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. He has composed for jazz ensembles, orchestras, dance companies,chamber groups, and feature films.