Press

Venezuela, Fidelio, and Minneapolis walk into a bar….

The Ricardo Lorenz world premiere, “Humboldt’s Nature,” is a symphonic fantasy for nearly ONE HUNDRED musicians, (geez Louise!), and utilizes almost every percussive instrument one can imagine. Based on the German scientist Alexander von Humboldt’s travels through Latin America, the…
Humboldt’s Nature World Premiere, LA Phil

During his journey through Latin America in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Alexander von Humboldt not only shaped a holistic worldview of the world, one in which nature and humanity are inextricably interwoven, but he also underwent a…
HUMBOLDT LISTENS: Alexander von Humboldt and the Birth of Acoustic Ecology

Was Alexander von Humboldt the first acoustic ecologist? Ricardo Lorenz (Professor of Music Composition at Michigan State University) shows how the naturalist took in the tropical environment by relying not only on his eyesight, but also on his acute sense…
Ricardo Lorenz’s ‘Humboldt’s Nature’ to premiere with LA Philharmonic

Commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the newest orchestral work by composer Ricardo Lorenz, “Humboldt’s Nature,” will premiere at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles on Feb. 12, 2026. Lorenz, a Michigan State University College of Music professor of composition,…
Todo Terreno (world premiere, LA Phil commission)

Mud gets everywhere. Rocks, big and small, rattle each bone in the body. Every turn of the formless road brings unexpected challenges, both enticing and menacing. Do we succumb to the treacherous terrain, overheated and out of gas, or do…
The Reverón Piano Trio – La Hamaca
Carnegie Hall Presents: Ensemble Connect Up Close Performing New York Premier of “La Hamaca”

Monday, January 27, 2025 7:30 PM Resnick Education Wing Ensemble Connect: Also performing October 27, February 10, 2025, and April 10, 2025. Gabriela Ortiz: Also performing October 18. Program: GABRIELA ORTIZ Pigmentum (NY Premiere) CARLOS SÁNCHEZ-GUTIÉRREZ LuciérnagasILEANA PEREZ VELAZQUEZ Light echoes (NY Premiere) RICARDO LORENZ La Hamaca (NY Premiere) ALEJANDRO CARDONA Axolotl (US Premiere) CAROLINA NOGUERA New Work (World Premiere,…
Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, 2025 Gustavo Dudamel Tour

Gustavo Dudamel and Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra have been inseparable for 25 years. The Venezuelan conductor boosted the growth of the national youth orchestra into a world-renowned orchestra and led the now mature musicians all the way to Carnegie Hall.…
Lorenz’s Concerto for Maracas at MSU

Latin Grammy-nominated in 2020! The MSU College of Music is proud to present the MSU Wind Symphony conducted by Kevin L. Sedatole as they present the world premiere of Ricardo Lorenz’s Pataruco: Concerto for Venezuelan Maracas and Wind Symphony featuring…
The Worst [Empanadas] in London: Tribute to Sondheim on ECM

Liaisons:Re-imagining Sondheim from the Piano has been described as a landmark commissioning project that brought together thirty-six of the world’s foremost contemporary composers from across the musical spectrum in order to “re-imagine” Sondheim’s songs as solo piano pieces. Lorenz’s The…
Lorenz travels to South Korea as Composer-in-Residence

Ricardo Lorenz traveled to South Korea on two different occasions as Composer-in-Residence. In 2013, he was the featured guest composer of that Seoul’s Pan Music Festival, the longest running contemporary music festival in South Korea. That year he attended the…
Ahead of the tide, Ricardo Lorenz bridges U.S./Cuba divide

Four years ahead of the renewed diplomatic relations between former archenemies U.S. and Cuba, Lorenz and his MSU colleague Rene Hinojosa have taken students on a study abroad program to Havana in order to experience the culture of a rapidly…
MSU Symphony takes a ride to Macondo….again

The Michigan State University Symphony Orchestra led by conductor Kevin Noe performed Lorenz’s En Tren Vá Changó (Destination Macondo) on Friday November 16, 2012. It is the second time in eight years that this work is heard live on the…
New Work for Strings Premiered at Dali Chamber Music Festival

As Composer-in-Residence of the 9th Annual Dali Quartet Chamber Music Festival and Camp, Ricardo Lorenz spent several days this past summer 2012 in North Wales, Pennsylvania, working on two of his works with some of the East Coast’s most talented…
Cacerola Soul premieres in London

Ricardo Lorenz attended the London premiere of his new work Cacerola Soul on May 3rd, 2012 at the Southbank Centre. Cacerola Soul roughly translates as “the soul of the frying pan” and calls for a SATB choir, instrumental ensemble and…
Ricardo Lorenz re-imagines Sondheim

On April 21, 2012, Ricardo Lorenz attended the New York premiere of Liaisons: Re-imagining Sondheim from the Piano, a concert project involving over thirty of the world’s foremost contemporary composers, including Lorenz, and their solo piano creations based on Sondheim…
In Memoriam Fredda Hyman (1937-2011)

On December 1st, 2011 Music in the Loft founder Fredda Hyman passed away in her Chicago loft. On that day, up and coming performers and composers lost one of their greatest champions. As for myself, I lost one of my…
East Coast Premiere of Lorenz’s Viola Concerto

A year after its first performance at Michigan State University, Ricardo Lorenz’s Viola Concerto received its East Coast premiere on October 15, 2011. This time it was outside of Philadelphia, once again with violist Roberto Díaz for whom the…
Canciones de Jara: Recalling the Soul of an Activist

Though there appears to be a tension between the song short form -simple, with alternating verses and choruses- and the large symphonic form developed during the classical era in Europe, Lorenz uses Canciones de Jara to resolve some of those…
Music and Sustainable Development in Cuba

When one thinks of Cuba, one thinks of three things: tobacco, revolution, and music. However, of these three emblems, music best defines the identity of the country. Since more than a century and a half, music has allowed Cubans to…
Rumba Sinfónica premieres in the Middle East and South America

Rumba Sinfónica, a thirty-minute concerto of sorts for Latin band and symphony orchestra, was the result of a close collaboration between composer Ricardo Lorenz and pianist/arranger Jorge Gómez. Since its premiere with the Minnesota Orchestra in the fall of 2007, Rumba Sinfónica…
Second Congress of Musical Creation in San Juan, Puerto Rico

As a guest composer of the 2nd Congress of Musical Creation hosted by the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico in San Juan, Ricardo Lorenz attended the Caribbean premiere of his work Merengue en el Espejo and delivered…
Lorenz and Díaz talk about their recent viola concerto collaboration

Read about Lorenz’s Canciones de Jara on the Discovery Channel’s Blog. Read more about the premiere on the Michigan State News website. Listen to Ricardo Lorenz talk about Canciones de Jara with Spartan Podcast host Russ White. Listen to violist…
Violist Roberto Díaz premieres Canciones de Jara

On October 22, 2010 Violist Roberto Díaz premiered Ricardo Lorenz’s Canciones de Jara: Concerto for Viola and Orchestra with the Michigan State University Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leon Gregorian at the Wharton Center for Performing Arts. After consecutive…
Euphonium Music Commissioning Consortium

An international group of euphonium players and music institutions has joined forces to commission a work from Ricardo Lorenz that will feature the euphonium while calling for the same instrumentation of Leos Janacek’s seldom performed Cappricio for piano and…
Pick of Summer 2010
Live from The Mill

As part of their 2010 Meadowlark Music Festival engagement, Guest Composer Ricardo Lorenz and the Dali String Quartet appeared as featured artists of “Live from the Mill,” a laidback yet incredibly informative art news show that is broadcasted live from…
Concerto for Maracas ends season at Millennium Park

To conclude a year of performances in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Lorenz’s Pataruco: Concerto for Venezuelan Maracas and Orchestra, the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and soloist Ed Harrison performed the work at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion of Chicago’s…
Convergence in Nebraska at this year’s Meadowlark Music Festival

As Guest Composer of the 2010 Meadowlark Music Festival, Ricardo Lorenz curated a program of Latin American music that brought together Philadelphia-based Dali String Quartet and Puerto Rican percussionist/marimba virtuoso Orlando Cotto. A highlight of the program was the…
Perfiles Sospechosos, 2007 NFA Commission, gets a makeover

Minnesota native and flutist Marissa Olin will premiere a new and improved version of Ricardo Lorenz’s Perfiles Sospechosos on Sunday, April 18, at Michigan State’s Hart Recital Hall. Originally a trio for flute, cello, and percussion commissioned by the National…
University of Oregon Commission bridges north and south

Ricardo Lorenz receives commission from the University of Oregon to compose work for two world-renown flutists: Grammy-Award winning, University of Oregon faculty Molly Barth and revered Venezuelan flutist Luis Julio Toro. In addition to having long standing solo careers, Molly…
2010 MacDowell Colony Fellowship Recipient

Ricardo Lorenz will spend five weeks in residency at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. As a MacDowell Colony Fellow, Lorenz will work during April and May 2010 on a new concerto for viola and orchestra. The concerto is…
Pataruco: Concerto for Maracas’ Tenth Anniversary

Several performances of Ricardo Lorenz’s concerto for maracas and orchestra are scheduled for the 2009-2010 season in cities across the US and Mexico. Premiered ten years ago and titled Pataruco, this first-ever concerto for maracas will be performed in Oregon…
Ricardo Lorenz visits The Gator Nation

By invitation of the University of Florida Bands, Ricardo Lorenz visited the Gainesville campus on September 29-October 2, 2009 to attend the official premiere of El Muro, a work for wind symphony commissioned by the American Bandmasters Association and the…
Rumba Sinfónica opens its third season at the historic Severance Hall

Ricardo Lorenz’s Rumba Sinfónica will receive its twentieth performance at the historic Severance Hall, home of the Cleveland Orchestra. On October 24, 2009 Tiempo Libre and The Cleveland Institute of Music Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Carl Topilow will…
El Muro: 2008 ABA/University of Florida Commission

After fulfilling a commission from the National Flute Association in 2007, Ricardo Lorenz was the 2008 recipient of the American Bandmasters Association/University of Florida Commission Award. The award, funded by a grant from the University of Florida band program, includes…
Tiempo Libre plays Ricardo Lorenz’s “Rumba Sinfónica”

Links from MSUToday on TV Spartan Podcast: Ricardo Lorenz College of Music News: Composer Heats Things Up with Fusion of Cuban Rumba and Symphony Sound MSU News: MSU professor’s ‘Rumba Sinfonica’ to be performed by Detroit Symphony Orchestra [Video] MSUToday…
International Divertimenti for Sculpture and Traffic

The second half of the concert felt more convincing than the first. After Mr. Giorgetti’s “Dialogue” came the Venezuelan-American composer Ricardo Lorenz’s “Compass Points,” the most successful piece on Sunday’s program. Each of the work’s three sections was written in…
Composer Ricardo Lorenz brings together two musical traditions

Ricardo Lorenz’s first composition, written at age 12, was extremely simple. “Just two chords, jumping back and forth,” he says with a laugh. “I got such a kick out of it.” Now, after more than 25 years as a composer,…
Your world, on shuffle

Get down. Listen up. Get down. How’s that for a history of Western music in six words? It’s also a neat preview of Michigan State University composer Ricardo Lorenz’ massive Latinsymphonic collision piece “Rumba Sinfonica.” For years, two men dreamed…
New Viola Concerto in collaboration with Roberto Díaz

Ricardo Lorenz received a 2008 Michigan State University Intramural Grant (IRGP) from the Vice President’s Office for Research to compose a concerto for viola in collaboration with Roberto Díaz, former principal violist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and current President of…
Selected Reviews

“Ricardo Lorenz’s ‘Bachangó’ translates the rhythmic tradition of the black Caribbean into steely pianistic bravura.” Bernard Holland, THE NEW YORK TIMES “Its appeal is atmospheric, evoking visceral responses to layer upon layer of divergent rhythms and quixotic melodic lines that…