Born and raised in the Caribbean, Rodney graduated in Spring 2023 with a BA magna cum laude in History of the Americas, Foreign Languages (French and German), and Music from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus, where he was awarded the Luis Muñoz Marin Prize in History of the Americas.
Born and raised in the Caribbean, Rodney graduated in Spring 2023 with a BA magna cum laude in History of the Americas, Foreign Languages (French and German), and Music from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus, where he was awarded the Luis Muñoz Marin Prize in History of the Americas.
As a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow (MMUF), he worked on interdisciplinary undergraduate papers in the fields of Music, History, and Art History, such as Forms of Resistance and Exclusion in Puerto Rican Avant-Garde Music in 1960-1970: The Case of Francis Schwartz (2023), in which he investigates how neocolonialism connects to the emergence of avant-garde music on Puerto Rico and music resistance with other Puerto Rican currents during the 1960s. Music as Memory: representations of Institutional Violence in Puerto Rico from the 20th to the 21st Century (2023), and his recent publication in the undergraduate digital journal [in]genios; “Representations of political and institutional violence in the visual arts from the 20th to the 21st century in Puerto Rico” No. 1 Vol. 10 (2023). These last two works uncover new academic sources and research fields by studying music and visual arts and how colonialism has violently marked Puerto Ricans at the turn of the century, intertwined with resistance and the voice of those marginalized throughout history. His publications and papers are the foundation for his research questions and curiosities in Puerto Rican avant-garde music, which he will continue to investigate as a graduate student here at Berkeley.
Aside from his academic interests, his passion for choral composition has led him to participate as a Tenor in choral ensembles since 2016, such as the UPRRP Choir; Philharmonic Choir of San Juan; Ars Vocalis PR; Orfeón San Juan Bautista and he was recently admitted in the UC Berkeley Chamber Chorus. In addition, a few choral works by different choral ensembles have already premiered in Puerto Rico. His love of music and the humanities motivated him to teach undergraduate music as a tutor.