Composers Festival spotlight: DM R

2021 MICF resident composer DM R (Diana M. Rodriguez) was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia, has lived in Miami and Boston, and currently is based in New York City, where she is a doctoral candidate at Columbia University.

She previously earned a master’s degree from the Boston Conservatory and a bachelor’s degree from the New World School of the Arts at the University of Florida.

DM R (pictured) is a composer of electroacoustic music, influenced variously by pop culture, Colombian folk, Rock en Español, and more. She also is a concert series curator for Columbia Composers and CanvaSounds, as well a member of C3 (Colombian Composers Collective), a group of six Colombian composers currently based in the US that also includes Mizzou alumni José G. Martínez.

For the MICF, she has written a new work called “I watched them burying me,” which will be performed by Alarm Will Sound as part of the “World Premieres II” online concert on Saturday, July 31.

Other recent projects include collaborations with TAK Ensemble and Sound Icon.

Previously, her work has been presented by ensembles and institutions including the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Yarn/Wire, ECCE Ensemble, Ludovico Ensemble, Boston Musica Viva, Berrow Duo, Eric Drescher, Josh Modney at the BANFF Centre for the Arts and Creativity, the DiMenna Center for Classical Music, the Boston Conservatory, University of North Colorado, the Coral Gables Museum, and the New England Conservatory.

Her past honors include the Houseman and Kirkham Scholarship and the Mrs. Morgan P Gilbert Scholarship, both at the New World School of the Arts; and being a two-time finalist in the Jane Pyle Composition Competition.

You can learn more about DM R by listening to the interview she did in May of this year with the “Lexical Tones” podcast. You can hear samples of her music on her SoundCloud page and in the embedded players below.

“YLS,B” for fixed media, piano (synth), bass clarinet, and violin, performed by The Oasi Trio at the Lenfest Center for the Arts at Columbia University.

“Variation X”

 

“You’ll See Me Return to the City of Fury,” performed by Erik Drescher (flute).