2023 recipient
Aldo Ruiz-Alonso
Aldo (they/them) is a violist, composer, music teacher, and an Alexander Technique teacher from Tijuana, Mexico.
As a violist, they’ve toured extensively around Mexico and California with prominent professional ensembles, including the Orquesta de Baja California. Aldo has shared the stage with world-class artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Plácido Domingo, Mariachi Sol de México and Mariachi Nuevo Tecatitlán, Mijares, Susana Zabaleta, and members of the Hausmann and Formosa quartets. Some of the highlights of their performing career were participating in two chamber music masterclasses with members of the Kronos quartet, David Harrington and Hank Dutt.
Some creative personal accomplishments include their transcription and orchestration of the music of Super Metroid for the 2019 8-Bit Symphony, as well as the 2022 Mexican premier of their improvisatory solo piece Ludus.
It was Aldo’s great honor to perform the 2018 US premier of Mexican composer Santos Cota’s “Two pieces for viola and piano”, with the composer at the piano. Aldo also played the San Diego premier of Masurian´s Requiem with Musica Vitale, and was an active member of the San Diego City Ballet and the Richmond County Orchestra in NYC.
Aldo has worked as a violin and viola teacher and chamber music coach at prestigious institutions in Tijuana such as Centro de Artes Musicales, and at Nguyen Music Studio and Studio Vivo in San Diego.
Aldo holds two degrees in viola performance, a Bachelor of Music from the Autonomous University of Baja California (2015), and a Master of Music from San Diego State University (2018). Aldo also successfully underwent the Alexander Technique - Performing Artists Teacher Training at the Balance Arts Center (2025).
Aldo feels fortunate to play a 2021 viola built for them by Claudia Reynoso, one of Mexico's most prominent luthiers.
Currently, they are active as a viola performer, and a music and Alexander Technique teacher serving the San Diego, Tijuana and Ensenada border region of Baja California.