Electronic Musical Instrument Design & Performance

– by Levy Lorenzo –

WHEN: Tuesday, April 8th, 6:00PM (composition seminar activity)
WHERE: NYU Music Department
24 Waverly Place, Room 220, NY 10003

abstract

Percussionist (D.M.A.) and Electronics Engineer (M.Eng.), Levy Lorenzo will present his work designing and performing new electronic musical instruments.  Levy aims to build tools for accessing electronic sound via gesture in an embodied, yet non-idiosyncratic manner.  He creates new instruments to find new electronic music, rather than specific devices that are intended for specific compositions.  In his approach, he emphasizes learning, practiced virtuosity and developing new idioms for the live performance of computer music.  Coupled with the engineering process, Levy actively engages with the instruments in the process of strengthening his technical and conceptual virtuosity over time.  He also invites other musicians to learn and compose for these instruments.

 bio

Filipino-American, Levy Lorenzo, is an electronics engineer and percussionist. He performs and composes live-electronic music using new, custom electronic musical instruments that he invents.   His electronics work has been featured at STEIM, the Guthman Competition, ICMC, ISIM, the G4TV network, Pitchfork.com, Slashdot.org, the 2007 Geneva Auto Show, the New York Times and BBC Ecuador.   Also an active performer of modern classical music for percussion, Levy has performed at the Yellowbarn, Darmstadt and Ensemble Moderne Academy festivals.  He is the co-founder of theater/percussion/electronics duo – Radical 2.  Levy is also a sound engineer specializing the design and performance of complete electro-acoustic concerts – he is the sound & electronics engineer for the International Contemporary Ensemble, where he also plays percussion.   Levy has worked as an engineer at Bose and currently works at Leo Villareal Studio and Ligorano-Reese Studio building custom large-scale electronic LED installations.  He holds Bachelor and Master degrees in Electrical & Computer Engineering from Cornell University.  He also holds a Master of Music degree from Stony Brook University in Percussion Performance, where he is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate. [www.levylorenzo.com]