Rodrigo Constanzo
Curriculum Lead - Pop Music Masters
BMus, MMus, PhD
Email: [email protected]
Research Portal: Rodrigo Constanzo
- Deliver undergraduate and postgraduate teaching across musicianship, composition, improvisation, production, and performance
- Integrate research and industry practice, including music technology, creative coding, and digital performance
- Lead modules and programmes, including Musicianship and MMus Popular Music, ensuring standards and progression
- Design and oversee assessment, including formative and summative methods, and chair panels
- Contribute to curriculum design, validation, and development, with a focus on interdisciplinary and technology-led practices
- Mentor students, support creative work, and supervise postgraduate research
- Provide line management, mentoring, and professional development for staff
- Contribute to governance, committees, and external examining at national and international level
Dr. Rodrigo Constanzo is the Curriculum Lead for Popular Music Masters degree and is a graduate of University of Huddersfield, where he gained a PhD in Music Composition.
With over 32 years experience as a music educator Rodrigo is also an active performer, composer, and improviser, having performed at various national and international gigs, venues, and festivals.
Current and Future Research
Dr Rodrigo Constanzo’s current research centres on the development of Data Knot, a suite of real-time machine learning tools designed for low-latency, performance-critical musical environments. This work integrates digital signal processing, creative coding, and embodied performance to enable responsive human–machine interaction in live electronic and improvisatory contexts. The project advances new models of musical interaction through gesture-responsive systems and adaptive audio analysis, and has already demonstrated significant reach through widespread adoption in artistic and research settings, alongside substantial online engagement.
Rodrigo’s broader research practice operates at the intersection of composition, improvisation, and music technology, underpinned by an internationally recognised performance and dissemination profile. His work is characterised by the integration of professional practice and research, with outputs presented at leading conferences and festivals, including NIME and PdMaxCon. He maintains active collaborations with institutions such as the Centre for Digital Music at Queen Mary University of London and the University of the West of England, supporting an outward-facing and impact-driven research agenda.
Looking ahead, Rodrigo’s research will extend the capabilities of Data Knot, focusing on more sophisticated machine learning models, expanded applications in multimedia and interdisciplinary performance, and deeper exploration of improvisation with intelligent systems. He also plans to further develop frameworks for accessible, practice-based research dissemination, building on his earlier work in digital thesis design. Through these activities, his research will continue to contribute to emerging paradigms in music technology and creative practice, reinforcing his position within an international and increasingly world-leading research landscape.
Research Areas
- Live electronic performance and improvisation
- Machine learning in music and real-time human–machine interaction
- Music technology, digital signal processing, and creative coding
- Practice-based research and innovative digital dissemination
- Interdisciplinary approaches to composition, performance, and sound art
Undergraduate Teaching
- Production
- Composition & Songwriting
- Musicianship
- Improvisation
Postgraduate Teaching
- Contemporary Songwriting
- Small Ensemble Performance
Selected Outputs
Constanzo, R. (2011) Towards the Beat of a Different Drummer: A Journey into the Loss of Fidelity in Drums and Electronics. In: Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC 2011), pp. 532-535. Peer-reviewed conference paper.
Constanzo, R. (2016) Just Making Things Up. In: Blatt 3000, 5, pp. 10-15. Journal article.
Shier, J., Constanzo, R., Saitis, C., Robertson, A. and McPherson, A. (2025) Designing Percussive Timbre Remappings: Negotiating Audio Representations and Evolving Parameter Spaces. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME), pp. 452-461. Peer-reviewed conference paper.
Wolstanholme, L., Shier, J., Constanzo, R. and McPherson, A. (2025) Drum Modal Feedback: Concept Design of an Augmented Percussion Instrument. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME), pp. 108-115. Peer-reviewed conference paper.
Diaz, R. and Constanzo, R. (2025) nlm: Real-Time Non-linear Modal Synthesis in Max. In: Proceedings of PdMaxCon25~, pp. 133-136. Peer-reviewed conference paper.
Renney, N., Gaster, B., Constanzo, R., Butt, J., Reed, C., Cadavid Hinojosa, P. and Aynsley, H. (2026) A Diffractive Listening to a Game of Telephone with a Tape. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME). Submitted.
Professional Activity
Dr. Rodrigo Constanzo is an internationally recognised composer, performer, and improviser with a focus on live electronic performance, improvisation, and machine learning in music, much of which he has documented on his webpage www.rodrigoconstanzo.com.
He maintains a sustained international performance profile, with appearances at leading festivals, venues, and institutions including the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (England), Manchester Jazz Festival (England), Sound Festival (Scotland), Institut für Neue Musik und Musikerziehung (Germany), Le Bruit de la Musique (France), International Computer Music Conference (Australia), Gare du Nord (Switzerland), The Red Room (US), Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik (Germany), Sonoscopia Associação Cultural (Portugal), Conservatorio Statale di Musica (Italy), Museo Nuevo (Germany), XFest (Cyprus), Cruce Arts (Spain), Opéra Comédie (France), Music Biennale Zagreb (Croatia), among others.
