IDEAS, NOT THEORIES
by Reynaliz Herrera
Est. 2012
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REYNALIZ HERRERA: Founder & Director/Composer/Script
PRESS (Reviews, interviews, stories)
ABOUT IDEAS, NOT THEORIES:
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"Herrera's exuberant music successfully incorporates musical styles like classical, atonal, minimalistic and pop/rock. Uplifting fun listening for all ages, regardless of personal musical preferences."
"Virtuosic solo bike melodic and percussive tapping and drum-like rolls ground the tempo, while showing off Herrera's musicianship..."
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"Metallic Movement has faster atonal brilliantly performed orchestral lines and complementary atonal metallic bike lines and rolls..."
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"IV. Tires Movement, part 2, features orchestral wide-pitch lines, exciting higher cymbal-like bike sounds to closing dance-along bike solo..."
By Tiina Kiik from The WholeNote Magazine (Toronto, CA).
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"One of the more unusual releases of the year is Reynaliz Herrera's BIKEncerto: a concerto for solo bicycle and orchestra. Boston-based Herrera incorporates bicycles and bicycle parts as musical elements, but it is not just a gimmick-- this music is substantive and new, and deserving of recognition independent of the unique instrumentation.”
By Ken Field-- Saxophonist, WMBR/WOMR radio host, & president, JazzBoston.
The Boston Globe-- The best of Boston music: artists, albums and tracks of 2023.
(James Sullivan and Noah Schaffer - Globe Correspondents)
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"Think “STOMP” with Bicycles. That’s the foot-tapping vibe you get from Boston bike-percussionist Reynaliz Herrera’s performances”
By Lauren Daley from The Boston Globe
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"Despite the sense of playful improvisation in the performance, each movement in Ideas, Not Theories is a formal composition. Herrera is especially interested in the bicycle as an instrument and has created a notation system that indicates what part of the bicycle to hit to make a specific tone or sound..."
By Jennifer Levin from Santa Fe New Mexican (NM)
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"When Reynaliz Herrera plays music she explores every sound, every surface and any object... It was an idea based on convenience, but cultivated over years of training.
She is composing with cups and water buckets, she even uses brushes and her own body to make the music that is featured in her original show called Ideas, Not Theories."
By Jackie Bruno from NBC10 BOSTON (featured in "Uniquely Boston")
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"Under the drumsticks of Braintree percussionist Reynaliz Herrera, beat-up bicycles are the surface for her complicated, intriguing compositions. And bicycles will never seem the same after you’ve seen her creations."
By Jodie Feinberg from The Patriot Ledger (MA)
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"Reynaliz Herrera turns bicycles, water and horns into drums."
By Anna Pulley from DRUM! Magazine
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"When you have ideas clever enough to engage those too young to have formulated a lot of theories about theater and music, it is surprisingly easy to grab the attention of those whose minds have become cluttered. Herrera is an engaging performer and exceptionally talented musician."
By Les Gutman from Curtain Up (NYC)
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"A beautiful cacophony of expected sounds. Herrera puts on a wonderfully inventive concert that encourages children to utilize their imaginations and creativity to see music in the mundane. Herrera creates her gloriously inventive soundscapes."
By Emilyn Kowaleski from Theatre is Easy (NYC)
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"The genious of the work lays on creating a story by using no words and only music."
By Fernando Cardenas from NY1 TV
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"This woman is capable of creating music with so little, with as little as a a bicycle wheel."
The Crucero Newspaper, Monterrey Mexico.
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"A memorable sonic experience"
Posdata Magazine, Monterrey Mexico
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RECENT REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS and STORIES:
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Listed in "The Best of Boston Music 2023" at The Boston Globe :
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Review of "BIKEncerto: a concerto for solo bicycle and orchestra"at The Whole Note Magazine (Toronto, CA) :
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Review of "BIKEncerto: a concerto for solo bicycle and orchestra" at Percussive Notes Journal :
https://pas.org/percussive-notes/
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Review of "BIKEncerto: a concerto for solo bicycle and orchestra" at Fanfare Magazine:
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Global Music Awards 2023, Bronze Medals for "Best Composer" & "Best Contemporary Classical" for album "BIKEncerto: a concerto for solo bicycle and orchestra" at Global Music Awards:
https://www.globalmusicawards.com/
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Somerville "Artist of the Month" Feature at Somerville Arts Council:
https://somervilleartscouncil.org/artistmonth/herrera
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Story/Profile at The Boston Globe :
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/06/04/arts/this-boston-percussionist-keeps-beat-bikes/
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Story at Santa Fe New Mexican:
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Story/Profile at NBC10 BOSTON on "Uniquely Boston":
https://www.nbcboston.com/multimedia/Uniquely-Boston_Bike_Percussionist_NECN-511335712.html
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Guest at "At Percussion- The Podcast":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN6Tx3NTkX0
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At the PAS's "Percussive Notes" Journal (October 2022 issue):
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Story at The Patriot Ledger (front page):
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Story at The Somerville Times:
https://www.thesomervilletimes.com/archives/111492
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Guest at Dexter's LAB Podcast:
https://dexterslab.podbean.com/e/season-2-ep-7-reynaliz-s-lab-with-reynaliz-herrera/
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Interview at Boston Cyclists Union:
https://bostoncyclistsunion.org/boston-bike-story-reynaliz-herrera
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Interview with Elizabeth Estrada featured in PRX, from a podcast made for Transom Traveling Workshop:
https://beta.prx.org/stories/281208
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-Top 10 WCW 2018 interviews from DRUM! Magazine:
https://drummagazine.com/the-top-10-wcw-interviews-of-2018/
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Interview at DRUM! Magazine (WCW Series):
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TV interview for Innovation Showcase (from NewTV):
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TV interviews from Times Warner Cable at NY1 (NYC):
http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/parenting/2015/08/21/parenting--where-to-go-8-21-15.html
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Review from CurtainUp NYC:
http://curtainup.com/fringe15.html#ideas
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Review from Theatre is Easy NYC:
http://www.theasy.com/Reviews/FringeFestival/2015/ideasnottheories.php#.VecmmdiZt0s.facebook
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In TimeOut Kids NYC:
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In TimeOut NY:
http://www.timeout.com/new-york-kids/theater/theater-for-kids
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Interview by Works By Woman:
https://worksbywomen.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/interview-reynaliz-herrera/
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Interview by Garden State Journal:
http://www.gardenstatejournal.com/content/an-interview-with-reynaliz-herrera-9023.html
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Listing at The New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/theater/show/401999/FringeNYC-Ideas-Not-Theories/overview
ABOUT REYNALIZ HERRERA:
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"Think “STOMP” with Bicycles. That’s the foot-tapping vibe you get from Boston bike-percussionist Reynaliz Herrera’s performances”
By Lauren Daley from The Boston Globe
​
"Despite the sense of playful improvisation in the performance, each movement in Ideas, Not Theories is a formal composition. Herrera is especially interested in the bicycle as an instrument and has created a notation system that indicates what part of the bicycle to hit to make a specific tone or sound..."
By Jennifer Levin from Santa Fe New Mexican (NM)
"In spite of Reynaliz's seeming shyness, she is, quite simply put, intellectually brilliant."
- Ian Bernard. Former Solo Timpanist- National Arts Center Orchestra, Ottawa, CA.
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"She makes the drums sing..."
- The Ottawa Citizen.
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"When Reynaliz Herrera plays music she explores every sound, every surface and any object... It was an idea based on convenience, but cultivated over years of training.
She is composing with cups and water buckets, she even uses brushes and her own body to make the music that is featured in her original show called Ideas, Not Theories."
By Jackie Bruno from NBC10 BOSTON (featured in "Uniquely Boston")
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"Reynaliz Herrera is a very unusual talent- the kind you discover only once in twenty years."
Pinchas Zukerman, Music Director/violinist.
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"Under the drumsticks of Braintree percussionist Reynaliz Herrera, beat-up bicycles are the surface for her complicated, intriguing compositions. And bicycles will never seem the same after you’ve seen her creations."
By Jodie Feinberg from The Patriot Ledger (MA)
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"Reynaliz connects on all levels, be it children, teens, her peers or adults."
- Ian Bernard. Former Solo Timpanist- National Arts Center Orchestra, Ottawa, CA.