From September 2011 to January 2012, Anthony De Ritis was awarded a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award, and was appointed as a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China. His research project, a web-based prototype titled, “A Multimedia Guide to the Instrumentation and Orchestration of Chinese Traditional Instruments,” illustrates De Ritis’s approach to interdisciplinary and innovative research in music composition and creativity in general; i.e., by placing together of Chinese traditional instruments and performance practice side-by-side with Western harmonies, electroacoustic and contemporary orchestration techniques (including spectral analysis), one can generate new (and innovative) intercultural music and sound worlds.

The Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), the scholar division of the Institute of International Education (IIE), featured De Ritis’s research, and several other Fulbright students and scholars, in a web-based video article titled Fulbright and Innovation —https://www.cies.org/article/fulbright-innovation.

Fulbright Students and Scholars — including Anthony De Ritis, 2011 Fulbright Scholar to China —
discuss the many ways in which innovation played a role in their Fulbright experiences and beyond.

De Ritis uses such examples of interdisciplinary methodology as a catalyst for creativity and arts-based innovation in other disciplines, including business innovation and entrepreneurship.

For more details on De Ritis’ original music working with Chinese traditional instruments, check out his upcoming CD project with the 5-time Grammy nominated Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP).