School of Music

Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Roco Córdova is a vocalist, composer, producer and improviser based in the San Francisco Bay Area. They possess a B.Mus. in Composition from the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music and an M.A. in Composition from Mills College in Oakland, California. They have studied under the guidance of Carlos Carrillo, Manuel Ceide, Roscoe Mitchell, Zeena Parkins and James Fei. As a singer they have trained under the instruction of conductor and countertenor Paul Flight and have participated in vocal advancement workshops with Meredith Monk.

Their music has been described as "slow-boiling, apparently timeless" with "an odd momentum of its own" (The Washington Post). Córdova's work fuses diverse influences with electronic media, chance operations, gradual processes, noise, improvisation, and timbral techniques of composition. Voice is at the core of their music making: they incorporate extended techniques like throat singing, overtone singing, falsetto, yodeling, vocal processing, and vocal clicks and pops into live improvised performances. Recently, they have been focused on exploring the intersection between their vocal practice and electronic dance music.

As a touring vocalist and improviser with The Art Ensemble of Chicago, they have performed in venues including but not limited to: The Tennessee Theater in Knoxville, Tennessee; The Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois; SESC Pompéia in São Paulo, Brazil; The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.; and the Maison des Arts in Créteil, France.

In the realm of music for dance Córdova has collaborated with GeraldCaselDance, composing a live score for their piece Procession, presented during the 2021 Black and Brown Queer Festival in Santa Cruz, California.

As a soloist, Roco recently played the role of Pilate with the California Bach Society in their 2022 performances of the St. John Passion by J.S. Bach.

In February 2023 they were part of the world premiere of Dorian Wood’s Canto de Todes, an immersive 12-hour chamber composition and installation that fuses folk, popular, and experimental music influences into a multi-movement work. Roco has also collaborated with artists like Dirt and Copper, Theresa Wong, La Macacoa, Danistha Rivero, Temoleh, and Monopiece.