Ricardo Lorenz receives second MacDowell Colony fellowship

An associate professor of composition whose work has been commissioned by international festivals and symphonies was recently granted his second fellowship by the nation's premiere artist colony.

Beginning in early November, Ricardo Lorenz will be an artist-in-residence at the MacDowell Colony, the oldest and most prestigious artist residency program in the United States. During his five-week stay, Lorenz will work on a multi-genre composition based on a dramatic folk story of a Cuban tightrope walker. His work, tentatively titled “Scenes of Chacumbeles,” will combine symphonic music, fieldwork documentary, contemporary ballet, and new media.

“I was inspired to explore the intimate relationship between storytelling and art by the way this story blurs the line between truth and fiction,” says Lorenz of the Cuban tale based on a character from a popular 1940s song. “The fellowship at MacDowell is one part of my semester-long sabbatical. It will allow me to focus solely on my creative work during an extended period in order to bring a new large-scale composition to life.”

The MacDowell Colony is located in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. While at MacDowell, Lorenz will have the opportunity to create and interact with other fellows including writers, visual artists, composers, filmmakers, playwrights, interdisciplinary artists, and architects. Founded in 1906, the MacDowell Colony has hosted about 6,900 artists, including such notables as Leonard Bernstein, Thornton Wilder, Aaron Copland, Milton Avery, James Baldwin, Spalding Gray, and more recently Alice Walker, Alice Sebold, Jonathan Franzen, Michael Chabon, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Meredith Monk.

Lorenz's fellowship is his second at the MacDowell Colony. In 2010, Lorenz completed a new concerto for viola and orchestra that was premiered that same year by former principal violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra Roberto Diaz. He was later named National Endowment for the Arts/MacDowell Colony Fellow for his artistic merit.