“Rapid Transit Overture” is a high-energy orchestral work that captures the pulse, rhythm and controlled chaos of urban life in motion.

Inspired by the daily drama of mass transit systems – subways, buses and trains – the piece weaves together a sonic portrait of movement and momentum.

Throughout the piece, the orchestra shifts gears – sometimes smoothly, other times with abruptness. The overture builds toward a climatic crash ending

“Rapid Transit Overture” is a celebration of orchestrated rush hour and the shared humanity found in the everyday experience of getting here to there.


Rapid Transit Overture (para Orq. Sinfónica)

Puerto Rican composer William Ortiz was raised and educated in the United States, but his Latino identity plays a vital role in his music. Particularly, his experience as a Nuyorican in the 1970s have informed the aesthetics of his music, which transforms the sounds of the streets into art music. Unique in that respect is the use of instrumental and vocalized graffiti that are integrated in some of his works. A professor at the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón, he has taught at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music and is Music Director of the Ateneo Puertorriqueño. 
He makes the following statement on his music: "I conceive of music as the 'vibrant beauty' of urban life; as the expressions of the cries and shouts of the street - cries and shouts that reflect the thoughts of those who are oppressed, of those who feel. It is my intent to convert the language of the street into a legitimate instrument".

Rapid Transit Overture (para Orq. Sinfónica)

William Ortiz Alvarado