Eloy Fritsch

Eloy Fritsch
The Brazilian Electronic Composer, 1999
Background information
Origin	Brazil
Genres	Electronic music, New Age Music, Progressive rock, Space music
Years active	1983–present
Labels	Musea, Rock Symphony

Eloy Fernando Fritsch (born 1968) is the keyboard player and main composer of Brazilian progressive rock band Apocalypse and as a solo artist he creates cosmic New Age music.

History

Since his childhood he has been studying music and researching on new sounds through synthesizers in order to express his electronic compositions. In 1983 Fritsch formed progressive rock band Apocalypse. They are considered pivotal in the development of progressive rock in south of Brazil.

In 1992, he moved to Porto Alegre and began his solo project composing Electronic music. His first official solo album was Dreams, recorded in 1994 and 1995. During 1997, he released his second solo album, Behind the Walls of Imagination, which showcases his skills with various electronic and acoustic keyboard instruments. In the mid-1990s, Fritsch secured a recording contract with French Label Musea. His third album for them, Space Music, was released in 1998.

The composer reveals his sci-fi style with Cyberspace. In this album Fritsch offers instrumental music of seventies inspired keyboard symphonic/electronic progressive music. Fritsch performs an electronic music that evolves between Vangelis´ ambient and impressionist electronic, and the synthesised progressive rock of masters such as Rick Wakeman. Nevertheless, Fritsch has found his own style within melodic electronic music framework. The compositions are very melodic and emotive, with multi-layered instrumental textures/voicings and solidly coherent arrangements.

Fritsch has earned a PhD in Computer music, and has served as a teacher of Electronic Music at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). During 1999, Fritsch created the Electronic Music Center in the Institute of Arts at UFRGS.

Parallel his work as keyboard player of the group Apocalypse and his academic activity, Fritsch release through Musea and Rock Symphony labels the album Mythology , a large variety of truly original musical works in which he brought to full maturity the use of sinthesizers to compose melodic electronic music. This ambitious work justly uses the whole panel of his electronic sounds to depict fifteen tracks exclusively dedicated to the different gods worshipped in the past. The Brazilian, Mesopotamian, Hindu, Amerindian, Inca, African, Greek, Egyptian, Scandinavian, Roman or Chinese are outlined in Mythology album by an instrumental composition. Thanks to his panoply of keyboards including a Roland System-700 Laboratory Modular Synthesizer, Eloy Fritsch has been able to free his imagination. Eloy Fritsch's love of the sky inspired him to compose the electronic suite Atmosphere (2003). Once again the composer reveals his ecological convictions: he presently defends the virtues of the gas envelope that allow everyone to live on Earth: the Atmosphere. In this album every track is choc full of sumptuous melodies and luxuriant layers of keyboards. Landscapes (2005) was Fritsch's next work to emerge on disc and is a powerful electronic/ instrumental album that maintains a reverent sense of wonder.

Selected discography

With Apocalypse

• Apocalypse (1991)
• Perto do Amanhecer (1995)
• Aurora dos Sonhos (1996)
• Lendas Encantadas (1997)
• The Best of Apocalypse (1998, Compilation)
• Live in USA (2001, Live)
• Refugio (2003)
• Magic (2004)
• Apocalypse Live in Rio (2006)
• DVD Apocalypse Live in Rio (2006)
• The Bridge of Light (2006)

Solo works

• Dreams (1996)
• Behind the Walls of Imagination (1997)
• Space Music (1998)
• Cyberspace (2000)
• Mythology (2001)
• Atmosphere - Electronic Suite (2003)
• Landscapes (2005)
• Past and Future Sounds - 1996-2006 (2006)
• The Garden of Emotions (2009)

Compilations featuring Eloy Fritsch

• Planeta Nova Era Vol. 7 (1997) Track: Lake of Peace Movement 1 and 2
• Planeta Nova Era Vol. 13 (1999) Track: Cosmic Winds
• Planeta Nova Era Vol. 14 (1999) Track: Starlight
• Margen - Music from the Edge Vol. 6 (2002)- Track: Ionosphere
• Edition #5 (2005) Track: The Garden of Emotions Suite
• Brasil Instrumental 2006 (2006) Track: The Garden of Emotions Suite
• Compact Mellotron 34 (2006) Track: Andromeda
• Edition #13 (2006) Track: Shiva
• Edition #14 (2006) Track: Atlantis
• Edition #15 (2006) Track: Andromeda
• Brazilian Electroacoustic Music Compilation (2009) Track: Synthetic Horizon

Keyboards used by Fritsch

Throughout his albums Fritsch uses several instruments. Some of these are:

• Minimoog
• Roland JD-800
• Roland JP-8000
• Roland JP-8080
• Roland Juno-106
• Roland JX-3P
• Roland System-700
• Roland AX-1
• Roland VK-8
• Casio CZ-5000
• Casio AZ-1
• Korg MS-10
• Korg 01/W
• Korg M1
• Korg Triton
• Korg Polysix
• Korg Delta
• Korg MS2000R
• Yamaha SY77
• Yamaha DX-21
• Clavia Nord Modular
• Kurzweil K-2600
• Ensoniq MR76
• Digitech Vocalist
• AKAI S-5000

See also

• Jean Michel Jarre
• Tomita
• Vangelis
• Rick Wakeman
• Keith Emerson
• Larry Fast
• Patrick Moraz
• Kitaro
• Tangerine Dream
• Klaus Schulze
• Krautrock
• Progressive rock
• Apocalypse (band)
• Berlin School of electronic music
• New Age Music
• Space music
• Electronic music

External links

• Eloy Fritsch official web site.
• info and sounds.
• French fan site.
• Free Mp3.
• info, reviews and discography.