Uploaded June 2019 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
NYC based composer and performer presents his first solo performance since 2017, with new work for electric guitar and live electronics.
From 2012-2016, Diaz de Leon released a series of three albums on the Denovali label, under the performing name Oneirogen (o-NY-ro-jen). The project explored intersections of ambient, synthesizer-trance music, extreme metal, noise, and industrial music genres. Using large scale forms inspired by 19thc. symphonies and 80s thrash metal albums, as well as avoiding the use of drums, each album offered a unique world unto itself. As solo performer on guitar, electronics, and vocals, Diaz de Leon embarked on several US and European tours during this four-year span, sharing the stage with artists such as Ben Frost, Liturgy, Holly Herndon, Blanck Mass, and many others. The project concluded its initial run in 2016 with the release of “Convivium”, and a performance for 500 attendees at Austria’s Donaufestival.
In 2017, Diaz de Leon gave three NYC area solo performances under his given name, which focused on complex rhythmic interplay between minimal synth textures and pre-programmed lighting designs. Tonight’s performance builds from these explorations, combining synthesizer, electric guitar, and light under the working title “Body Pulse Prism”.
Mario Diaz de Leon is a composer, performer and educator, whose creative work encompasses modern classical music, experimental electronic music, extreme metal, and improvised music. Noted for their bold combination of acoustic instruments and electronics, his classical compositions have been documented on several recordings, often produced in collaboration with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). A debut album, “Enter Houses Of” was released in 2009 on John Zorn’s Tzadik label, and praised by the New York Times for its “hallucinatory intensity”. A second album, entitled “The Soul is the Arena”, was released in 2015 on Denovali, and was named a notable recording of 2015 by New Yorker Magazine. Pitchfork wrote that the album “combined his interests seamlessly into music that throbs with snarling exuberance.” 2017 saw the release of Sanctuary, his album length work created in collaboration with TAK ensemble, which received favorable reviews in the New York Times.
His most recent electronic works are documented on a series of albums released under the name Oneirogen from 2012-16, which explore linkages between ambient, drone, metal, and industrial music genres. In 2015 he co-founded the metal band Luminous Vault, a duo with bassist and vocalist Samuel Smith (Artificial Brain). Combining machine rhythms and synthesizers with black and death metal elements, their EP “Charismata” was released by Profound Lore Records in 2017. Alongside Jeremiah Cymerman and Toby Driver, he is a member of Bloodmist, a trio devoted to electroacoustic improvisation, whose most recent release was given favorable reviews by National Public Radio and Downbeat Magazine.
Recent live performances include events at Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles), Donaufestival (Austria), CTM Festival (Berlin), Chicago Symphony Center, Hakuju Hall (Tokyo), Venice Biennale, Lucerne Festival (Switzerland), Musica Nova Helsinki (Finland), National Gallery of Art (DC), Ojai (California), Roulette (Brooklyn), The Kitchen (NYC), and commissions from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, ICE, Talea, NYSCA, and Chamber Music America.
A committed educator, he was recently appointed Lecturer in Music Technology at Stevens Institute of Technology for 2018-19. Mario served as Core Lecturer in Music Humanities at Columbia University from 2015-2018, and currently teaches Recorded Sound at the Columbia Computer Music Center. He holds degrees in composition from Oberlin Conservatory and Columbia, where he completed his doctorate in 2013.
22 Boerum Place, Brooklyn
Saturday May 25, 2019
Edited by Scott Tatsuta
NYC based composer and performer presents his first solo performance since 2017, with new work for electric guitar and live electronics.
From 2012-2016, Diaz de Leon released a series of three albums on the Denovali label, under the performing name Oneirogen (o-NY-ro-jen). The project explored intersections of ambient, synthesizer-trance music, extreme metal, noise, and industrial music genres. Using large scale forms inspired by 19thc. symphonies and 80s thrash metal albums, as well as avoiding the use of drums, each album offered a unique world unto itself. As solo performer on guitar, electronics, and vocals, Diaz de Leon embarked on several US and European tours during this four-year span, sharing the stage with artists such as Ben Frost, Liturgy, Holly Herndon, Blanck Mass, and many others. The project concluded its initial run in 2016 with the release of “Convivium”, and a performance for 500 attendees at Austria’s Donaufestival.
In 2017, Diaz de Leon gave three NYC area solo performances under his given name, which focused on complex rhythmic interplay between minimal synth textures and pre-programmed lighting designs. Tonight’s performance builds from these explorations, combining synthesizer, electric guitar, and light under the working title “Body Pulse Prism”.
Mario Diaz de Leon is a composer, performer and educator, whose creative work encompasses modern classical music, experimental electronic music, extreme metal, and improvised music. Noted for their bold combination of acoustic instruments and electronics, his classical compositions have been documented on several recordings, often produced in collaboration with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). A debut album, “Enter Houses Of” was released in 2009 on John Zorn’s Tzadik label, and praised by the New York Times for its “hallucinatory intensity”. A second album, entitled “The Soul is the Arena”, was released in 2015 on Denovali, and was named a notable recording of 2015 by New Yorker Magazine. Pitchfork wrote that the album “combined his interests seamlessly into music that throbs with snarling exuberance.” 2017 saw the release of Sanctuary, his album length work created in collaboration with TAK ensemble, which received favorable reviews in the New York Times.
His most recent electronic works are documented on a series of albums released under the name Oneirogen from 2012-16, which explore linkages between ambient, drone, metal, and industrial music genres. In 2015 he co-founded the metal band Luminous Vault, a duo with bassist and vocalist Samuel Smith (Artificial Brain). Combining machine rhythms and synthesizers with black and death metal elements, their EP “Charismata” was released by Profound Lore Records in 2017. Alongside Jeremiah Cymerman and Toby Driver, he is a member of Bloodmist, a trio devoted to electroacoustic improvisation, whose most recent release was given favorable reviews by National Public Radio and Downbeat Magazine.
Recent live performances include events at Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles), Donaufestival (Austria), CTM Festival (Berlin), Chicago Symphony Center, Hakuju Hall (Tokyo), Venice Biennale, Lucerne Festival (Switzerland), Musica Nova Helsinki (Finland), National Gallery of Art (DC), Ojai (California), Roulette (Brooklyn), The Kitchen (NYC), and commissions from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, ICE, Talea, NYSCA, and Chamber Music America.
A committed educator, he was recently appointed Lecturer in Music Technology at Stevens Institute of Technology for 2018-19. Mario served as Core Lecturer in Music Humanities at Columbia University from 2015-2018, and currently teaches Recorded Sound at the Columbia Computer Music Center. He holds degrees in composition from Oberlin Conservatory and Columbia, where he completed his doctorate in 2013.
22 Boerum Place, Brooklyn
Saturday May 25, 2019
Edited by Scott Tatsuta
![Recording of [June 16] INHERENT UNCERTAINTY by Paul Geluso, Clinton Van Arnam, Ivana Dama](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tjDC2OEBwis/mqdefault.jpg "Recording of [June 16] INHERENT UNCERTAINTY by Paul Geluso, Clinton Van Arnam, Ivana Dama
Live data analysis of Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 worldwide data is used to create this generative sound piece. Data is sent through custom software into analog and digital synthesizers which trigger visuals formed by news clips recorded on June 1st, 2020 during the protests that followed the death of George Floyd.
The title Inherent Uncertainty represents our current state of affairs and the systems we are seeing crumble before our own eyes. As the viewer listens to the sound shift and change, these shifts are simply the analysis of the destruction of the virus. This project explores the unpredictability of our future and the thin veneer that we define as a ‘civil’ society.
Software engineering by John Brumley. Music by Paul Geluso and Clinton Van Arnam. Visuals by Ivana Dama in collaboration with Clinton Van Arnam. Creative collaboration with Harvestworks, New York including Carol Parkinson, and Paul Geluso. Mentorship and creative vision in partnership with Victoria Vesna, UCLA.
SOUNDING CORONA series is co-conceptualized by the UCLA ArtSci Center, and Harvestworks NY with the intent of composing and amplifying the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 worldwide data live data analysis including total recovered, deaths, and cases. Throughout this ongoing summer series, sound artists will be invited to use the texture of this data as an underlying vibration for engagement. With this collective sound and image exploration we seek to illuminate the interconnectivity of events around the world.")
