Levy Lorenzo, percussionist, Engineer and Technical Associate

Born in Bucharest, Filipino-American Levy Marcel Ingles Lorenzo, Jr. works at the intersection of music, art, and technology. On an international scale, his body of work spans custom electronics design, sound engineering, instrument building, installation art, free improvisation, and classical percussion. With a primary focus on inventing new instruments, he prototypes, composes, and performs new electronic music. As an electronic art consultant, Levy designs interactive electronics ranging from small sculptures to large-scale public art installations with artists such as Alvin Lucier, Christine Sun Kim, Ligorano-Reese, and Leo Villareal. As a percussionist, he co-founded the experimental theater/electronics duo Radical 2 with Dennis Sullivan and performs regularly with improvisor Peter Evans. As a sound engineer, he specializes in the realization and performance of complete electro-acoustic concerts with non-traditional configurations. One of his main engagements is Claire Chase’s Density 2036 project. A core member of acclaimed the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), he fulfills multiple roles as live sound engineer, electronic artist, and percussionist.

Filling a unique niche, Levy is in demand as a freelance designer and artist. His work has been featured at STEIM, Harvestworks, MIT Media Lab, Ensemble Moderne, Darmstadt, Yellow Barn, Pitchfork.com, Slashdot.org, G4TV, Grey Group, Bose, The New York Times, BBC, and Burning Man. An advocate for interdisciplinary arts, he has collaborated with dancers, video artists, public artists, mathematicians, sculptors, engineers, and dramaturgs. Bridging the gap between the electronics design cycle and the performance practice of cutting-edge contemporary music, Levy is as equally comfortable wielding a soldering iron as drumsticks and four-mallets. He has fluency navigating hardware schematics and coding in various software environments, as well as interpreting complex musical scores and playing chamber music.

Levy earned degrees as Master of Electrical & Computer Engineering from Cornell University, and Doctor of Percussion Performance from Stony Brook University. He has given numerous guest lectures on electronic musical instrument design both domestically and internationally. Professor Lorenzo teaches electronics and coding at CUNY College of Technology, as well as Music Technology Performance at Hunter College. He recently received commissions from the American Composers Forum and Pringles.