Angélica Negrón facts for kids

Angélica Negrón, born in 1981, is a talented composer and musician from Puerto Rico. She's known for creating unique music using instruments like accordions, robotic instruments, toys, and electronics. She also writes music for bigger groups like orchestras and choirs, and for movies. Angélica is a co-founder of the electronic indie band Balún, where she sings and plays the accordion. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, and teaches young composers.

About Angélica Negrón

Angélica Negrón was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. When she was a child, she started learning piano and violin at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico. She later studied music composition there. She continued her studies at New York University, earning a master's degree. She also studied at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Angélica is passionate about teaching music to young people. She works as a teaching artist for the New York Philharmonic's Very Young Composers Program and Lincoln Center Education. She also helped start a Spanish music program for young children called Acopladitos. Her work has earned her special awards, like the Van Lier Fellowship in 2014–15 and a New York Foundation for the Arts Artist Fellowship in 2016.

Angélica has written music for many different types of art and entertainment. Her work has been featured in concerts and music festivals, including the "Ecstatic Music Festival" and the MATA Festival. Her collection of instruments is quite interesting, starting with a Strawberry Shortcake music box. It has grown to include bells, trumpets, and whistles. She performs with her band Balún and her chamber group, Arturo en el barco.

Music Career

Angélica Negrón has been asked to create music for many famous groups and organizations. These include the Albany Symphony, the Kronos Quartet, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. She has also written music for the New York Botanical Garden.

She enjoys working with other artists, such as Lido Pimienta and Sasha Velour. Her music has been performed in important places like the Kennedy Center. Her film music has been shown many times at the Tribeca Film Festival. She has written music for documentaries, movies, theater, and modern dance. She often works with an experimental theater company from Puerto Rico called Y No Había Luz. For their plays, she creates music that often uses puppets, masks, and unusual objects.

Angélica continues to perform and compose music for films.

Balún (2003–Present)

Balún is an experimental electronic band that Angélica Negrón co-founded with her husband, José A. Oliveres. The band started in the indie music scene of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Their music is often described as "dreampop" with influences from "reggaeton."

Balún uses a mix of sounds, including drum machines, traditional bomba barrel drums, and jíbaro guitarillos. This helps them bring their Caribbean background into their music. They even call their unique sound "dreambow," which combines "dreampop" and "dembow" (a Jamaican music rhythm). In 2016, their song "La Nueva Ciudad" became very popular, appearing on Spotify's Viral Top 50 list around the world and in eight Latin American countries.

• Albums:
• Something Comes Our Way - 2006
• An EP Collection - 2006
• Memoria Textil - 2010
• Prisma Tropical - 2018

• Singles and EPs:
• EP1 - 2003
• Nada Que Hacer Hoy - 2003
• While Sleeping - 2004
• Snol EP - 2006
• Camila - 2011
• El Medio Contenido - 2011
• La Luna - 2012

Awards and Recognition

Angélica Negrón has received several awards and honors for her musical work:

• She was awarded the Hermitage Greenfield Prize in 2022.
• Q2 and NPR listeners chose her as one of "The Mix: 100 Composers Under 40."
• Flavorpill named her one of the "10 Young Female Composers You Should Know."
• She was a recipient of NYFA's 2016 Artists’ Fellowship Program.
• She won the 2020 Imagen Award for "Best Music Composition for Film or TV" for her work on Independent Lens.

Compositions

Angélica Negrón has created a wide variety of musical pieces. Here are some examples of her work:

Orchestra Music

• Campos Flotantes (2024)
• Arquitecta (2023) for a singer and orchestra
• Sinfonía Isleña (2023)
• Moriviví (2022)
• Tornasol (2021)
• Un dos, tres (2019)
• Mapping (2017)

Music for Larger Groups

• Begin at the Beginning (2018) for a middle school string group
• The Blue Hour (2016), a song cycle created with other composers
• El gran caleidoscopio (2012)

Chamber Ensemble Music

This is music for smaller groups of instruments.

• Conversación a distancia (2020) for clarinet, vibraphone, piano, violin, cello, and electronics
• Marejada (2020) for string quartet and electronics
• Why Does the Moon Keep Following Us? (2019) for flute, clarinet, piano, and electronics
• Gone (2019) for percussion quartet and robotic percussion
• This Person (2016) for female voice, flute, clarinet, French horn, percussion, violins, viola, cello, and double bass
• There and Not Here (2014) for string quartet and percussion quartet
• Bubblegum grass/peppermint field (2011) for string quartet and electronics
• I Can Still Hear You (2009) for accordion and electronics

Solo Music

These pieces are for a single instrument or voice.

• Cooper and Emma (2020) for violin
• Parallax (2018) for piano and live electronics
• Las Desaparecidas (2016) for cello and electronics
• The Little Things (2011) for toy instruments and live electronics
• Columpio (2008) for toy piano and live electronics
• La bicicleta de cristal (2003) for vibraphone

Vocal Music

• Calladita (2020) for a female chorus
• Chorus of the Forest (2019) for mixed chorus, robotic percussion, and electronics
• Paradise (2019) for mixed chorus and electronics
• Nada Mejor que una persona (2018) for a female chorus
• Catorce menos (2013) for harp and children's voice

Ballet Music

• “Casa tomada” (2006) for chamber orchestra

Film Music

Angélica has composed music for several films and documentaries:

• Landfall (2020)
• The First Rainbow Coalition (2019)
• The Feeling of Being Watched (2018)
• Memories of a Penitent Heart (2016)
• Los condenados (2012)

Opera

• The Island We Made (2021)