Angélica Negrón

Angélica Negrón is a composer and musician based in Brooklyn New York. She trained classically in piano and violin at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico. She then switched her degree to composition followed by a masters from NYU in musical composition. She’s composed for orchestras, chamber ensembles and incorporates various non-traditional instruments that range from hooking up electrodes to vegetables and water to music boxes she finds at flea markets. Currently she’s the artist in residence at National Sawdust composing an opera Chimera; an opera that melds drag queens that lip-sync to prerecorded opera with a chamber ensemble.

Angélica Negrón’s composition Gone—the video below—is one of her more recent pieces. It highlights her unique combinations of traditional and contemporary sounds with new technology. Gone was commissioned to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the So Percussion Summer Institute. It uses custom-made robotic instruments, traditional percussion instruments and non-traditional percussion instruments. It’s not immediately clear what exactly is creating all the sounds but as the video unfolds the process is slowly revealed. This mystery and the constant shifting rhythm creates an unease for the audience while drawing them in. By the end they’re not exactly sure what they saw but aren’t left completely the dark.

Angélica Negrón’s work dovetails with Erica Dawson’s in that they both draw from and classical forms to create new work.