Efraín Rozas is a New York based Peruvian performer/composer and robotics/software developer specialized in the combination of experimental technologies and Latin American genres. As a researcher he has focused on the experimentalisms of the global south. He holds a PhD in composition and ethnomusicology at New York University, funded by the McCracken fellowship. He has published the book/video documentary “Fusión: a soundtrack for Peru”, and has released several LPS internationally via Names You can Trust, the Ethnomusicology Institute of Peru and the Embassy of Spain. He has performed at the Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Museum, Queens Museum, Levitation Festival, Crazy Music Festival (Luxembourg) and played with his experimental salsa band “La Mecánica Popular” at Central Park Summerstage Fania Records 50th anniversary in New York. He has attended residencies such as Omi and Marble house, and won the 2018 call for time based installations at Knockdown center and the Harvestworks New Works Commission 2018, and the New York State Council on the Arts/Wavefarm media arts assistance fund. He has worked as a teacher in different institutions including New York University. He was a consultant for the National Institute of Culture of Peru, the Swiss embassy, the ministry of tourism of Peru, and has hosted/produced radio for 10 years, with his show “La Vuelta al día en 80 mundos”. His work has been featured at CNN, BBC, Washington post, Daily News, Wire magazine and NPR Soundcheck. More at www.efrainrozas.com
The music of Steven Snowden has been described as “Beguiling… combining force with clarity” (San Francisco Classical Voice), “Wonderfully dynamic” (Interlude Hong Kong), “Rustic, red-blooded” (New Music Box), “Marvelously evocative”, (Cleveland Plain Dealer), and “The most wildly intriguing sight and sound I have experienced at a concert” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer). Writing music for dance, theater, multi-media installations, and the concert stage, his work often deals with concepts of memory, nostalgia, and the cyclic nature of historical events as they pertain to modern society. While his musical influences are deeply rooted in bluegrass, folk, and rock, he utilizes non-traditional techniques and processes to compose works that don’t squarely align with any single genre or style. A native of the Ozarks countryside, he began studies in music composition in 2002 and received degrees from Missouri State University, University of Colorado at Boulder, and University of Texas at Austin. In 2012-2013 he was a Fulbright Scholar in Portugal, researching the implementation of motion tracking technology as a means to facilitate collaboration between music and dance. In 2013-2014, he was a visiting professor and composer in residence at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and is the co-founder/director of the Fast Forward Austin Music Festival. He currently works as a freelance composer in Boston and is on an eternal quest to make the perfect breakfast taco.
