Bio

Dr. Alfredo Cabrera (b. 1996) is a composer, performer, designer, and interdisciplinary researcher from Caracas, Venezuela, whose work interrogates the intersections of identity, ritual, violence, and sound. Drawing on his experience as a queer, Latinx, immigrant artist, Cabrera’s creative practice combines contemporary classical composition with Venezuelan folk traditions, generative AI, electronic media, and performance studies to explore music’s capacity for personal and political transformation.

Cabrera recently earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition from the University of Michigan, where he also completed a cognate in Performance Studies. He is a recipient of the Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship—one of the university’s highest honors for doctoral candidates—and held a graduate fellowship with the Center for World Performance Studies. He also holds a Master of Music from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Music from Lynn University. As both an educator and a creator, he is deeply committed to equity, critical inquiry, and interdisciplinary engagement.

Cabrera’s compositional output spans choral, chamber, orchestral, electroacoustic, and multimedia works. His music has been performed by the PRISM Quartet, University of Michigan Chamber Choir, Eros Quartet, and Lynn Philharmonia, and presented at venues and festivals across the United States, Canada, and Europe. Notable recent works include Iridescent Porcelain, winner of the 2020 Brehm Prize in Choral Composition; Overcast Moonlight, a hybrid piece for percussion quartet, electronics, and spoken word; and I Took a Lethal Dose of Herbs, a VR documentary soundtrack premiered at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen.

His opera SHOOT!, a one-act operatic monodrama that explores state-sponsored violence and Venezuelan ritual performance, premiered in April 2025 at the Duderstadt Video Studio at the University of Michigan. The work uses the mythos of the folk deity María Lionza to examine internalized oppression and agency, blending Venezuelan tonadas, live signal processing, and projection design in a visually immersive performance.

Beyond composition, Cabrera has held key roles in arts administration and media production. He has served as Media Manager for Connecticut Summerfest and Program Assistant for the Center for World Performance Studies, designing promotional materials, websites, and digital content for academic and cultural events. His graphic design experience spans poster, web, and social media campaigns, often tailored for interdisciplinary and performance-based programming.

Cabrera is also active as a speaker and writer, having presented at the College Music Society’s National Conference and the “Music School for Tomorrow” symposium. His academic and creative work continues to be informed by ongoing research into Afro-Caribbean ritual performance, queer theory, and sonic resistance.

Whether through sound, scholarship, or visual design, Alfredo Cabrera is committed to practices that foreground connection, critical reflection, and collective reimagination.