The UCLA Robert U. Nelson Lecture Series, hosted by the Center for Musical Humanities, presents Angélica Negrón as part of the Reconsidering Music, Technology, and Gender symposium.
Angélica Negrón is a Puerto Rican-born composer and multi-instrumentalist. She writes music for voices, orchestras, and film as well as robots, toys, and plants. Angélica is known for playing with the unexpected intersection of classical and electronic music, unusual instruments, and found sounds.
Residencies and commissions include WNYC’s The Greene Space (a 4-part variety show/multimedia exploration of sound and personal history), the NY Botanical Garden (an immersive site-specific work for electronics and 100 voices), and Opera Philadelphia (a drag opera film in collaboration with Mathew Placek and Sasha Velour). Her work has been commissioned by LA Philharmonic, NY Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Kronos Quartet, and Roomful of Teeth. Angélica’s original scores for HBO include the docuseries Menudo: Forever Young and You Were My First Boyfriend directed by Cecilia Aldarondo.
Recent premieres include works for Dallas Symphony Orchestra (featuring Lido Pimienta as a soloist), Santa Rosa Symphony & Eugene Symphony (First Symphony project), The Hermitage Artist Retreat (as the recipient of the 2022 Hermitage Greenfield Prize) and her Carnegie Hall debut, commissioned and performed by Sō Percussion.
Angélica regularly performs a solo show and is a founding member of the tropical electronic band Balún. Performances include the Big Ears Festival 2022 and various engagements in New York City, San Juan, and nationwide.
Her musical education includes early studies at El Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico under Alfonso Fuentes—while making waves as a member of San Juan’s local DIY music scene—and later studies both at NYU under Pedro da Silva and The Graduate Center (CUNY) under Tania León. An educator herself, Angélica became a teaching artist with NY Phil’s Very Young Composers program (2013-2021) and with Lincoln Center Education (2014-2018), guiding young artists in creative composition projects.
Angélica lives in Brooklyn, where she’s always looking for ways to incorporate her love of drag, comedy, and the natural world into her work.
This symposium is presented by the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music in collaboration with the Center for the Musical Humanities and co-organizers Catherine Provenzano and Lily Shababi.
This program is made possible by the Joyce S. and Robert U. Nelson Fund. Robert Uriel Nelson was a revered musicologist and music professor at UCLA, who, together with his wife, established a generous endowment for the university to make programs like this possible.