Rodrigo Villanueva

Drummer, percussionist, arranger, and composer born in Mexico City, Mexico on March 26, 1967. Mr. Rodrigo Villanueva began playing drums at age of 15, studying privately with Ignacio Gutierrez (1982), Andreas Lüscher (1983-1987), Alvaro López (1987-1991), and Chris Adams (1993-1996). He also studied classical percussion and jazz studies at “Escuela Superior de Musica” (1985-1987), “Ollin Yoliztly” (1987-1989), and “Escuela Nacional de Musica” (1989-1991). In 1987, he joined the third-extreme jazz group “Atril 5,” touring Mexico and playing in several international new music festivals premiering contemporary music, such as Eugenio Tousseint’s Variaciones Concertantes (1994). In the jazz/classical genre he accompanied several soloists, such as Carlos Prieto, Edison Quintana, Roberto Limón, Marisa Canales, Alan Durbeq, Bozena Slavinska, Ana Maria Tradatti, Juan Carlos Laguna, Takagoshi Yoshioka, and Zsbigsev Paleta. With the group “Atril 5,” he recorded “ICE CREAM CONCERTO and FLAVORS of the stars” by Meyer Kupfermann. Villanueva has played with several mexican jazz groups such as Roberto Aymes’ “Contemporary Jazz Trio” (1989-1992), John Hager’s “Brass Explosion ” (1986-1994), Rodolfo Sanchez’s “Fénix “(1989-1992), Carlos Gallegos’ “Jazztlán ” (1996), and he also co-led the group “Espiral ” with Agustín Bernal and Daniel Hidalgo (1994-1997). At the beginning of his career, he performed in several theater plays, such as “Play it Again, Sam” (1986-1987), “Morte e Vida Severina” (1987), and “La Señora en su Balcón “(1988).