Ricardo Lorenz’s compositions have received praise for their fiery orchestrations, harmonic sophistication, and rhythmic vitality. These impressions have accompanied performances of his works at prestigious international festivals such as Carnegie Hall's Sonidos de las Américas, Ravinia Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, France 's Berlioz Festival, Spain 's Festival Internacional de Música Contemporanea de Alicante, the Festival Cervantino in Mexico , and Turkey 's Uluslararasi Summer Festival among others. Lorenz’s orchestral compositions have been performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, New World Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, Billings Symphony ( Montana ), Youngstown Symphony, Minneapolis Chamber Symphony, Chicago Sinfonietta, and by premier orchestras in Germany , Spain , Sweden , the Czech Republic , Mexico , and Venezuela .

Between 1998 and 2003, Venezuelan-born Ricardo Lorenz served as Composer-in-Residence of the Armonía Musicians Residency Program of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a program designed to building bridges through music between the orchestra, Chicago neighborhoods and community groups. During the 1998-99 season, he served as Composer-in-Residence of the Billings Symphony, Montana , and as a result of Lorenz being the first recipient of the "Composer for the Next Generation" program, several of his works were performed during three consecutive seasons (1998-2001) of Chicago 's Music in the Loft chamber music series. In the summer of 2001, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of William Eddins premiered Lorenz's En Tren Vá Changó, the first work commissioned by Ravinia Festival in preparation of the festival's 100th anniversary celebration.

Although Ricardo Lorenz has resided in the United States since 1982, he has always maintained close ties with Latin America . Between 1987 and 1992, Ricardo Lorenz held the position of Interim Director of the Indiana University Latin American Music Center. During this time he established a network of composers from the continent and compiled the sourcebook Scores and Recordings at Indiana University's Latin American Music Center (Indiana University Press, 1995) nominated to receive the 1996 Best General Reference Source Award by the Association of Recorded Sound Collections. By invitation from the Ministry of Culture of Colombia , Lorenz served as jury member of Colombia 's 1998 National Prize in Composition. In addition, Lorenz has been the recipient of several other distinctions and awards from Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation Humanities Fellowship, Organization of American States (OAS), Concert Artists Guild, Meet-the-Composer Midwest , Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, the Newhouse Foundation, Illinois Community College Trustees Association, and ASCAP among others.

Ricardo Lorenz holds a Ph.D. degree in composition from The University of Chicago and a Master of Music degree from Indiana University. He studied composition with Juan Orrego Salas, Shulamit Ran, Hector Tosar, and Donald Erb. He taught at Indiana University, The University of Chicago, City Colleges of Chicago, and he is currently Associate Professor of Composition at Michigan State University. His compositions are published by MMB Music and Boosey & Hawkes. They can be heard on the following record labels: Arabesque Recordings, Albany Records, Indiana University LAMC Series, Doublemoon Records ( Turkey), Urtex Digital Classics ( Mexico), and SOMM Recordings ( UK).

REVIEWS OF RICARDO LORENZ'S WORKS 

"Ricardo Lorenz's 'Bachangó' translates the rhythmic tradition of the black Caribbean into steely pianistic bravura ."
Bernard Holland, THE NEW YORK TIMES

"Its appeal is atmospheric, evoking visceral responses to layer upon layer of divergent rhythms and quixotic melodic lines that fit together with jigsaw puzzle perfection." Diane Windeler, SAN ANTONIO LIGHT

" Ricardo Lorenz proved his mastery of large forces in his Concierto para Orquesta." Tim Page, NEW YORK NEWSDAY  

"Lorenz has fashioned four pungent, emotionally complex and artfully balanced songs for tenor and large instrumental nsemble." Daniel Cariaga, LOS ANGELES TIMES

 “... most engaging ... crisp ..." Andrew Porter, THE NEW YORKER

 "...[Lorenz] has created a Latin American fiesta in abstract form (...) with 'En Tren Vá Changó,' he has given [the Chicago Symphony Orchestra] an exhilarating, Latin-style workout that deserves to find its way into the symphonic pops repertoire." John von Rhein, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE

"... despliegue de humor, imaginación, ternura e interés pianístico." Federico Heinlein, EL MERCURIO ( Chile )

"... un mundo auténtico y complejo emocionalmente. Eso es lo que debe tener la creación musical actual." Juan Carlos Nuñes, UNA ENTREVISTA CON ( Venezuela )

 "Partitura sobresaliente a causa de una atinada fusión de elementos pretéritos y actuales." José Antonio Alcaraz, REVISTA PROCESO ( Mexico )

"Uno de los acontecimientos de la velada resultó ser el insólito concierto para flauta, maraca, chequeré y palo de lluvia de Ricardo Lorenz: Mar Acá hizo, sencillamente, las delicias del público..." Joan Matabosch, ABC ( Spain )