2012 ¡Música del Corazón! Tue 12 Feb 7:30p

FEBRUARY 12, 2012

The 2012 Robb Concert featured an exciting lineup of New Mexico musicians in a celebration of the New Mexico Centennial. At the February concert, Hispanic folk songs were performed in much the same way they were collected in the 1940s and 1950s by John Donald Robb in northern New Mexican villages on a Wollensak wire recorder attached to his car battery.

​The concert, presented annually by the John Donald Robb Musical Trust at the University of New Mexico in collaboration with the National Hispanic Cultural Center, honors the contributions of Robb, former dean of the College of Fine Arts and a recognized music pioneer through his own compositions and preservation of Hispanic folk music. 

More than 400 people came to enjoy performances by New Mexico favorites Frank McCulloch y sus Amigos, who performed Hispanic folk songs from the Robb Archives, which are located in the UNM Libraries’ Center for Southwest Research. Dr. Regina Carlow’s UNM Dolce Suono Chorus sang Robb’s “Song for New Mexico,” and Lili del Castillo, a nationally renowned flamenco dancer and choreographer, presented her interpretation of music performed on guitar by her husband, Luis Campos. He is also a member of McCulloch’s sus Amigos, along with violinist Melody Mock.

Mezzo-soprano Lina Ramos sang settings of Hispanic folk music as interpreted by Robb. She was joined by Kevin Vigneau on oboe and James Bratcher on piano. For the finale, the audience and the performers joined together to sing the New Mexico State Song, Elizabeth Garrett’s “O Fair New Mexico.”