Meet Andres Luz | Composer & Music Professor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Andres Luz and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Andres, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
A frequent comparison I make with some jest in describing my defection from my 17+ years working in biotechnology followed by my pursuit of music composition and teaching in midlife is the idea of relocating from a nice, well-kept home in the suburbs and moving into a sinking ship. I always share a chuckle whenever I repeat this to someone I just nearly met. Certainly, it may appear to be a gutsy, perhaps even foolish, move that I eventually came to discover meant having to endure some personal sacrifices, but it is a decision that I cannot question when considering that we each only have one lifetime to carve out our own existence and in a way we owe it to ourselves to find our niche, our purpose for living. In old age, it is a common thing for each of us to look back with some reflection on whether or not we made the right life decisions. I, for one, anticipated that didn’t want to face the pummeling realization, in the case of choosing the “safe route,” in arriving at the painful regret for what could have been, what might have been, with so little time left.

In the years leading up to 2014 when I made my final break with my established career, I had spent much time with studies at the community college and at university learning music theory and history, and playing instruments; countless hours listening to recordings of the classical repertoire–even when stuck in Southern California and Bay Area traffic; and numerous visits to performances, libraries, record shops (i.e. Tower Records, Virgin Records Megastore, and Amoeba were my favorites), etc. Outside of my time at work in the laboratory, I voraciously consumed music with a passion, one that grew steadily from my early, budding interests in pursuit of my first degree study of biology and microbiology. Unsurprising to many in my position as the first-born son and achiever of the household, I was groomed through my Filipino-American upbringing to embark upon a very conventional trajectory toward a career in medicine, or some occupation which would primarily have made my grandmother and father proud and happy, and only presumably/secondarily myself.

After graduating with my Bachelors in Biology in 1997, I would have never guessed that almost two decades later, I would be abandoning my “intended” path and venture on my own toward my chosen path, one the carried more authenticity and deliberation when I had learned enough in life and realized what was truly meaningful to me. A scene close to the ending of Christopher Nolan’s INCEPTION (2010) made a deep impression on me when I first saw it. When Saito (Ken Watanabe) shares a surreal and contemplative moment with Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) in a half-future-forward/half-present episode in the story, he utters “Don’t you want to take a leap of faith? Or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone…” Those words resonated with me. Burned into my mind, I was compelled that I did not want my life to end with regret, and so I made a leap of faith and I have not turned back.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a composer of contemporary classical music and electroacoustic music broadly influenced by the legacy of music history stretching back to the Renaissance and up through the present-day. My growing body of work is enriched by references to Filipino and Filipino-American folklore, history, and culture and harmonized with current trends in today’s concert music among other important influences. I have composed pieces for solo and chamber forces, large ensembles, choir, and electronic works featuring solo performers. So far, I have taught professionally at the University of Redlands as Visiting Assistant Professor of Theory and Electronics between 2018-2020 and am currently looking for my next teaching opportunity after having graduated from the doctoral program at the University of Georgia.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Being something of a music nerd, my first thought turns to taking in a concert at L.A.’s own Walt Disney Concert Hall, an architectural icon designed by Frank Gehry, and home of the superbly talented musicians of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Preferably, there would be a selection on the program that features some new and exciting contemporary music, but I would also welcome an orchestra work by Brahms or Mahler–the two composers that pull at my heart-strings each and every time.

Prior to this, I think sushi or some ramen place nearby, just down the hill in Little Tokyo, would be great for dinner. After the concert, I think a quick beer and some banter at a local bar would round out the evening for us.

Other hot spots for me include any number of museums and cultural venues in the city: LA County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Getty, the Broad, first come to mind. I also love The Last Bookstore, Amoeba Music, and Grand Central Market–food halls are always such great spots to try some specialty grub. I could go on and on…

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
In 2023, I completed revisions on a 26-minute, large-scale musical composition for narrator, wind ensemble (wind band), and pre-recorded audio which draws from literary works written by the Filipino-American labor activist and author, Carlos Bulosan (1913-1956). In his semi-autobiographical novel, America is in the Heart (1946), and the essay, “Freedom from Want” (1943), Bulosan wrote on themes about the preservation of American democracy at a time when it was under threat by the rise of Fascism in Western Europe, Authoritarian Communism in the Soviet Union, and rampant racism at home. As the U.S. had emerged from the years of the Great Depression and entered the Second World War on two fronts, Bulosan stressed that for democracy to survive at home, the nation must seek to preserve a thriving, independent, and well-educated populace situated in a culture that values the natural rights of individuals as well as intellectual and artistic freedoms. Despite numerous instances of overt racism, xenophobia, class discrimination, harassment, and violence, Bulosan steadfastly defended the American values of liberty, opportunity, and excellence, even in the face of abject poverty, poor working conditions, and societal marginalization which he and his Manong-generation colleagues had experienced living in the United States.

These words, Bulosan’s defense of American Democracy, became the basis of my composition which won two American Prize titles in 2023, one in wind ensemble composition, and the other for its social-justice content. The piece was performed by the CCM Wind Symphony of the University of Cincinnati, conducted by Maestro Kevin Holzman, and recorded on the ABLAZE Records label, released to CD on Memorial Day 2024, and to digital streaming internationally the day after Independence Day, July 5th of this year. The recording is labeled as ABLAZE Records’ WIND ORCHESTRA MASTERS, Vol. 1, featuring myself and two other fine composers. In such a pivotal election year when the political climate of the nation is at a high point regarding how we as Americans will choose the direction of leadership for the future with democracy teetering in the balance, I was strongly impelled to express my support for the preservation of American democracy by composing this work.

My Shoutout is dedicated to the memory of Carlos Bulosan and the stirring words he wrote in support of our representative democracy.

Website: https://andresrluz.weebly.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andresrluz/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ARLcomposer

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AndresRLuz

Other: ABLAZE Records website for WIND ORCHESTRA MASTERS Vol. 1, including BULOSAN: ON AMERICAN DEMOCRACY composed by Andres Luz

https://www.ablazerecords.net/wom-1/wm8qo0ktoo1rg1pjz21j2h0rg6ueyy