Puerto Rican-born composer and multi-instrumentalist Angélica Negrón writes music for accordions, robotic instruments, toys, and electronics as well as for chamber ensembles, orchestras, choir, and film. Her music has been described as “wistfully idiosyncratic and contemplative” (WQXR/Q2) while The New York Times noted her “capacity to surprise.”

Negrón has been commissioned by the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Kronos Quartet, loadbang, Prototype Festival, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Sō Percussion, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, the Louisville Orchestra, and the New York Botanical Garden, among others. Angélica received an early education in piano and violin at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico where she later studied composition under the guidance of composer Alfonso Fuentes.

She holds a master’s degree in music composition from New York University where she studied with Pedro da Silva and pursued doctoral studies at The Graduate Center (CUNY), where she studied composition with Tania León. Also active as an educator, Angélica is currently a teaching artist for New York Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers program. She has collaborated with artists like Sō Percussion, Lido Pimienta, Mathew Placek, Sasha Velour, Cecilia Aldarondo, Mariela Pabón & Adrienne Westwood, among others, and is a founding member of the tropical electronic band Balún. She was recently an Artist-in-Residence at WNYC’s The Greene Space working on El Living Room, a four-part offbeat variety show and playful multimedia exploration of sound and story, of personal history, and belonging. She was the recipient of the 2022 Hermitage Greenfield Prize.

Upcoming premieres include works for the Seattle Symphony, LA Philharmonic, NY Philharmonic Project 19 initiative, and multiple performances at Big Ears Festival 2022. Negrón continues to perform and compose for film.

Keila Wakao was awarded the 1st prize and the Junior Composer Award in the 2021 Menuhin International Violin Competition. She was also the 1st prize winner of the Stulberg International String Competition and was awarded the Bach prize in 2021.

Born in 2006, 16 year old violinist Keila Wakao is from Boston, MA and began playing the violin at the age of 3. At age 6, the late Mr. Joseph Silverstein accepted Keila as a student. Currently, she is an eleventh grader at the Walnut Hill School for the Arts and studies with Donald Weilerstein and Soovin Kim at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School.

Keila has also been receiving Kyoko Takezawa's private instruction in Japan.

Keila has performed solos and recitals throughout the United States, Japan, Germany, Singapore and the United Kingdom in venues such as the Cadogan Hall(London), Victoria Concert Hall (Singapore), Jordan Hall(Boston), Carnegie Weill Recital Hall (New York City), and the Hibiki Hall(Japan).

At age 9, Keila gave her first solo performance with an orchestra, and since then, she has performed with orchestras including the Chattanooga Symphony, the Adelphi Orchestra, the Kalamazoo Symphony, Resound Collective and the New Philharmonia Orchestra.

In the upcoming season, Keila will be performing with the Reading Symphony, the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, the Lexington Symphony, and the Eugene Symphony. She will also perform at the Gower Music Festival in the UK, in the Summer of 2023.

In 2017, Keila was invited to speak and perform in TEDxBoston, and every Summer since 2018, she has been participating in the Perlman Music Program, where she studies with Itzahk Perlman, Li Lin, and Catherine Cho.

Keila plays on a 1745 fine old Italian violin by G.B Guadagnini on generous loan from the Florian Leonhard Fellowship.

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