Mario Diaz de León : Born 1979 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Grew up playing guitar in punk and metal bands. Attended the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studied composition and music technology. Helped form the Shinkoyo music and art collective. Since 2004, he lives in New York City, and is currently pursing his doctorate in composition at Columbia University, studying with George Lewis and Fabien Lévy. Since 2002 he has focused on acoustic + electronic hybrids in chamber music, expressed as hypnotic walls and gestures of shimmering sound. Influenced by composers such as Scelsi, Radulescu, Dumitrescu, and Ligeti, as well as a ride range of contemporary electronic music, free improvisation, noise, drone/doom/black metal, melancholic pop, etc.... He also cites his longtime work in the Shinkoyo collective as a major influence. A multi-instrumentalist on guitar, zither, voice, and electronics, he performs solo, and with the multimedia group Symbol (with Doron Sadja and Zeljko McMullen). He has collaborated with Jay King on multimedia works since 1999. Performed and exhibited work internationally. Ensembles who have performed his music include the International Contemporary Ensemble (USA), Hyperion Ensemble (Romania), the iO Quartet and Allsar Quartet. Fellowships and awards from Meet the Composer, International Contemporary Ensemble, and Columbia University. He has served as guest curator at Roulette and the MATA festival. His discography includes 3 releases on the Shinkoyo label, as well as an upcoming CD on John Zorn's Tzadik label.
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