Stephen Ruppenthal San Francisco Bay Area Composer/performer Stephen Ruppenthal is co-Principal trumpet and Contemporary Music Advisor for Redwood Symphony. He studied trumpet with Chris Bogios of the San Francisco Symphony and Opera. Ruppenthal holds a Performance Degree and a Master of Arts Degree in Contemporary Musicology from San Jose State University, studying composition and electro-acoustics with Allen Strange and ethnomusicology with Lou Harrison.

Mr. Ruppenthal was a founding member of the Electric Weasel Ensemble, and appeared with EWE and other groups in the USA and abroad, including President’s Breakfast at the New Music Festival. Ruppenthal is also known for his electro-acoustic musical compositions, his writings on text-sound composition, and articles written for the New Grove Dictionary of American Music. His written work, A History of the Development and Techniques of Sound Poetry in the Twentieth Century in Western Culture, constituted the first comprehensive documentation of the genre in English.

Ruppenthal has taught at San Jose State University, College of the Redwoods, and San Francisco State University (Center for Experimental and Interdisciplinary Art, Electronic Music Studio/Composition). He is a founding member, along with Patricia Strange and Brian Belet, of the electro-acoustic music group, SoundProof.

Albums

Sufficient Trouble

Release Date: July 14, 2017
Catalog Number: RR7969
20th Century
21st Century
Chamber
Vocal Music
Electronic
Violin
Voice
With SUFFICIENT TROUBLE, his debut release on Ravello Records, composer and performer Brian Belet offers a selection of computer music composed over the last twenty years. Featuring acoustic instruments and responsive electronic materials the disc offers a degree of variety in timbre and musical content that is sometimes lacking in electronic music. In Lyra, the album’s opening track, Belet establishes an aural world in which the organic material and electronic content merge seamlessly, clearly defining the musical language to come as the album progresses.

Flamethrower

Release Date: March 10, 2017
Catalog Number: RR7954
21st Century
Chamber
Electroacoustic
Trumpet
Voice
Innovative New Music trumpeter Stephen Ruppenthal commands attention right out the gate. Or perhaps, more specifically, he commands it right out the “NGate” – the subtitle of the opening track on FLAMETHROWER, his Ravello Records debut. The album contains world premieres of five pieces for trumpet, flugelhorn, voice, and crotale, composed specifically for Ruppenthal by Allen Strange, Bruno Liberda, Elainie Lillios, and Brian Belet.