Angélica Negrón

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 the 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), and her Carnegie Hall debut, commissioned and performed by Sō Percussion. As the recipient of the 2022 Hermitage Greenfield Prize, Angélica composed a new work synchronized to the setting sun, inspired by solar pulses captured by NASA, for EnsembleNewSRQ.

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. www.angelicanegron.com

Photo: Catalina Kulczar