Composer-Percussionist Reynaliz Herrera Releases Debut Album: BIKEncerto: A Concerto For Solo Bicycle And Orchestra

Boston-based and Mexican-born composer-percussionist Reynaliz Herrera, with her ensemble Ideas, Not Theories, release their debut album on June 30, 2023. Praised for her "toe-tapping vibe" by the Boston Globe, Reynaliz's four-movement work BIKEncerto continues her exploration of the bicycle-as-instrument, now with the accompaniment of a chamber orchestra.

Reynaliz Herrera has created formal and theatrical compositions on the instrument of her choice - the bicycle - since completing her studies in 2012 at Boston Conservatory (Now Boston Conservatory at Berklee). Once an aspiring orchestral percussionist and classical soloist, Reynaliz stumbled upon the bike as an instrument by necessity - busking is less daunting when your mode of transportation becomes your instrument.

Abandoning Bach for the bike, she's taken her experimental music-theater company, Ideas, Not Theories, to festivals across the US, Mexico, Canada, and even Barbados. With praise from sources as varied as the Percussive Arts Society and the Boston Cyclists Union, this attention-grabbing music has received acclaim at the Flea Theater NY, Boston and Brooklyn Children's Museums, National Arts Center of Canada, International Festival of Arts & Ideas (New Haven, CT), and Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, among countless others.

Over a decade removed from the conservatory, BIKEncerto: a concerto for solo bicycle and orchestra, represents a reconciliation of Reynaliz's found voice in the bicycle with her classical background. In BIKEncerto, she uses each movement to hightlight a specific characteristic of her instrument, whether its designing a "tire keyboard" in Tires Movement by adjusting each tire's PSI, conjuring melodic fragments from the tuned rods in Spokes Movement, or playfully exploring diverse parts of the bike in Metallic Movement. With a catalog of countless bike sounds, Reynaliz brings a DIY, yet thorough, approach to percussion music, tracing her found objects roots from performing with her mother's contemporary dance company as a teenager to now create music that is at once groove-based, humorous and playful, and possibly wry socio-economic critique.

Ideas, Not Theories is a theatrical percussion company for unconventional percussion instruments. Directed by composer-performer Reynalliz Herrera (b. 1984 Monterrey, Mexico), the group focuses on performing Reynaliz Herrera's original music for bicycles and other unconventional instruments, connecting to diverse audiences at festivals, concert halls and theaters, outdoor venues, and museums. Ideas, Not Theories had its premiere at the Festival de Musica Nueva 2012 in Monterrey, Mexico, and has performed regularly throughout the U.S, Mexico and Canada, and recently Barbados.

Founded by composer-percussionist Reynaliz Herrera, productions and programs include have included fully-staged theatrical percussion shows, a bicycle rock band program, bicycle orchestra, and interactive educational shows. Described as "'STOMP' with Bicycles" (Boston Globe), festival appearances include Bridgetown International Arts Festival (Barbados, 2023), Percussive Arts Society International Convention (2022), Currents New Media Festival (Santa Fe, NM, 2021), International Festival of Arts & Ideas (New Haven, CT, 2019), MIT Water Night (2018-2019), The New York University Day of Percussion (2016), Cambridge Arts River Festival (2019), ArtBeat Festival (Somerville, 2017), ILLUMINUS (Boston, 2017), World Maker Faire NY (2017), Outside The Box Festival (2016), and The New York International Fringe Festival (2015).

Comfortable in a myriad of venues, Ideas, Not Theories has performed at the National Cultural Foundation (Barbados), Harvard Museums, National Arts Center of Canada, Please Touch Museum (Philadelphia, PA), Friends of Congress Square Park (Portland, ME), Cambridge Public Library, and The Lower East Side Girls Club (NYC). Reynaliz Herrera & Ideas, Not Theories have received funding from The Foundation of Contemporary Arts, The Boston Foundation, and Somerville Arts Council. Their debut album, BIKEncerto: a concerto for solo bicycle and orchestra, featuring Reynaliz Herrera as composer and bicycle percussion soloist, comes out in June 2023.