Geronimo Mercado

Geronimo Mercado is a Composer and Sound Artist, born in Spain from Puerto Rican parents. He graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston with a Dual Major in Film Scoring and Music Business & Management and holds an MFA in Sound Arts from Columbia University, NYC. He studied under the directions of Miya Masaoka (Sound Arts/Experimental Music), Brad Garton (RTC Mix/Computer Music), John Kessler (Kinetic and Multimedia Sculpture), Zosha Di Castri (Contemporary Composition), Sanford Biggers (Installation and Performance Art); Liz Philips (Interactive Art); and Miller Puckette (Max MSP/ PD). His musical career started in Boston as a composer and performer of the Latin rock band "La Mosca" with 10 years of tours and the promotion of two record releases Por Si Las Moscas and Spanish Fly. The later one produced by Kato Khandwala (Chemical Romance, Papa Roach). La Mosca traveled and shared the stage with many acts like Café Tacvba, Molotov, PUYA, and as a backup band for Steve Vai. After years a musical hiatus, Geronimo started venturing into different musical and visual art genres. In the electronic field, he pushed an experimental proposal centered around the interactive instrument "Reactable Live!". This practice led him to diverse artistic collaborations from the likes of Caribbean Jazz giant William Cepeda, contemporary dance companies like Coda21, performance installations on live stages like Quantum: The Electronic Polymath Experience and the Electric Daisy Carnival as "Rec Deselby". He also performed his concert new music compositions in halls and galleries around the world. As Sound Artist, Geronimo explores in times of constant disruptive changes and over-stimulation, to push unity and self-awareness through various mediums of technology, sound and composition, allowing the creation of subjects that appeal to the core of individuals and their natural conditions. Mercado received an AICA Award (International Association of Art Critics) for the depiction of the Puerto Rico Rainforest sounds and relationships with his installation "Sound Circles/Immersion" as part of a group exhibition "Poetic Science" presented by the Puerto Rico Museum of Contemporary Art and the National Museum of Puerto Rican Heritage in Chicago. He also exhibited other Sound Arts pieces like Victrolian Man, K@lostrum, and Memorial to a Sound Ghost (dedicated to Pauline Oliveros) at the Rubin Museum in NYC and other galleries in San Juan, New York, Cuba, China and Japan. He views interactivity as a key component to his practice. Tangible involvement from the listener/viewer/participant as an integral part of the installation's environment. This may include visual elements such as video projection mapping, kinetic sculpture, or performance. Sound as a material figures heavily in the work, as much as the stimulus of self-discovery in a user-friendly environment to create and strive a direct connection between audience and the art. The audiences' engagement and interaction with the work becomes a malleable material able to be sculpted and learned from. The same application comes from composing music to film. His Film Scoring credits began with the film "12 Hours" which won 2 awards in 2002 at the Tribeca Film Festival in NYC. His works continued with films like "Miente", the official Puerto Rican selection to the Oscars; "200 letters" starring Broadway star Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton), which also brought him a selection for best music at the Premios Platino (Iberoamerican "Oscars"). His continued collaborations led him to compose 25 features, so far, in the Spanish and English-speaking market. Some of his most recognized films include "Broche de Oro" staring Jacobo Morales (Bananas), Hollywood based features like "Ana" starring Andy Garcia (The Godfather III) and Dafne Keen (Logan); "Speed Kills" starring John Travolta (Pulp Fiction, Saturday Night Fever); and "Driven" starring Lee Pace (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Hobbit) and Jason Sudeikis (Downsizing). The latter an official selection of both Venice and Toronto Film Festivals in 2018. His musical north has always been to be variant and undefined. Willing to pursue different styles and fusions. Coming from a multicultural upbringing rhythm and melody becomes inevitable and unashamed to try different things. His pieces explore concepts of individuality, the social and the psychological space. It inquires and mediate emotions and their connection to core feelings. Mercado continues to evolve and unify his artistic practice and original voice in film music.