Featuring

• Felix Gato Peralta, Lara Manzanares, and Justin Bransford
• Miguelito Romero and friends
• Honoring the life and legacy of Jim Bonnell
• Carlos Medina and Trio CPR
• Alex Manzanares & Ballet Folklórico Santa Fe
• Raven Chacon ~ 2025 Robb Award
• Giselle & Micky Cruz with Hugo Reyes and Antonio Burciaga

Free Parking

City of ABQ street & meter parking + UNM surface lot parking, at Central between Girard and Princeton | directions. Convenient paid parking at UNM Cornell Parking Structure | directions.

Schedule

Visit the John Donald Robb information table and meet members of the Robb Trust Board in the Keller Hall lobby.

2pm  Preconcert round table (45 minutes)

• Dr. Enrique Lamadrid
• Robert Lucero, Jr. 
• Facilitator: Dr. Carmella Scorcia Pacheco
• Giselle Cruz
• Felix Peralta

                    Break
​3pm  Concert (approx. 120 minutes)

• Felix Gato Peralta, Lara Manzanares, and Justin Bransford
• Miguelito Romero and friends
• Honoring the life and legacy of Jim Bonnell
• Carlos Medina and Trio CPR
• Alex Manzanares & Ballet Folklórico Santa Fe
• Raven Chacon ~ 2025 Robb Award
• Giselle & Micky Cruz with Hugo Reyes and Antonio Burciaga

Co-Curator Statement

The twelfth annual 2025 ¡Música del Corazón! concert produced by the John Donald Robb Musical Trust will celebrate the rich cultural legacy of the accordion in the development of Hispano music of the American Southwest, with a particular focus on New Mexico. The performance showcases the instrument’s journey from European roots to its prominent place in Nuevo Mexicano folk and popular music. 

Through live performances, storytelling, and historical context, the show highlights how the accordion became the iconic instrument in regional genres such as rancheras, norteñas, polkas, and valses. These styles, embraced and adapted by New Mexico’s Hispano communities, reflect a blend of Indigenous, Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo influences. The accordion's portability and versatility made it a staple at communitygatherings, dances, and celebrations, cementing its role in intergenerational cultural expression. 

Featured artists—ranging from tradition bearers to contemporary interpreters—demonstrate how the instrument continues to evolve while honoring its roots. The program also explores the influence of oral traditions, family lineages, and local innovations in sustaining this vibrant musical heritage. 

¡Música del Corazón! El Acordeón in New Mexico’s Hispano Musical Traditions offers audiences an immersive, heartfelt experience that underscores the accordion’s enduring place in the musical soul of New Mexico. 

~ Dr. Enrique Lamadrid, guest curator
~ Robert Lucero, guest curator

About

The annual Música del Corazón concert is a showcase of the living legacy of John Donald Robb. He carefully recorded and transcribed more than 3,000 Hispano folk songs throughout New Mexico, the Southwest, Mexico, and Spain. Like romantic and modernist composers before him, he looked to the songs of everyday folk to inspire and inform his own compositions and scholarship. He also provided a living record to us, the musicians, scholars, and teachers of the future. Over the past decade, we have marveled at the persistence and genius of traditional music as it recalls the past, adapts to the present, and shapes the future. Robb’s extensive field recordings are archived at UNM's Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections.

Performers

Lara Manzanares is an award-winning bilingual singer-songwriter of Northern New Mexican heritage. In addition to singing the Mexican boleros, rancheras, and corridos of her sheep-ranching childhood, Lara also composes her own style of music in both English and Spanish. Learn more about Lara. 

artistic example: Here is Felix's 2025 booking video featuring his many talents.

Miguel “Miguelito” Romero is currently one of the best known accordion players and musical producers of his time. Miguel has performed with such artists as Lorenzo Monteclaro, Hector Montemayor, Juan Gabriel, Cornelio Reyna, and Chayito Valdez to name a few. Currently Miguel has about 200 original songs which have been recorded by different artists. Miguel has his own recording studio called Triple M Records. His corrido of America Bajo Ataque was inducted into the Smithsonian Museum of US History for his collaboration on the September 11th attacks in New York, which led the Smithsonian Institute to build a website called corridossinfronteras.com, where you can listen to his corrido of the 9-11 attacks and also various other artists. On that same website Miguel was ask to make a model corrido so that anyone who would like to write a corrido could do so by using his template.

Miguel is married to Maria Luisa Guerrero de Romero for 32 years. They have two kids that are also in the music industry. Miguel Romero Jr. who is one of the best known Mariachi singers of his time. Marie Michelle Romero is currently one of the best known radio personalities. They have 4 grandchildren, which are the pupil of his eyes, Adrianne, Kristian Leigh, Bryan Alexander, and Joannah Marie. Miguelito's daughter-in-law Barbara Romero, and son-in-law Juan Zavala, are radio station managers for Univision Corp.

Giselle Cruz is a full-time musician performing with her father, Micky Cruz. She started her music career at the age of five and performed at festival in the Southwest, Los Angeles, California, New Mexico, and casinos throughout the region.

Giselle has released a single titled La Cumbia Sampuesauna that has received radio airplay in many radio stations throughout the Southwest. 

Micky Cruz is an award-winning international star, singer, songwriter and artist whose electrifying performances have captivated audiences across the U.S., Mexico, and Latin America. 

A former VMG-WARNER recording artist, Micky's talent has earned him national recognition, including the Billboard Top 40 hit "Morena," which placed him alongside Latin music giants like Alejandro Sanz and Luis Miguel. His album, CUMBE-GUE 2, garnered four-star reviews and heavy national radio airpolay, and his latest release, Cumbegue 3, made its international debut in Los Angeles and is already a number-one radio hit worldwide. 

Beyond his chart success, Micky has been sought after for high-profile corporate and private events, performing for prestigious organizations such as American Express, Kodak, and Texas A&M. His career highlights include exclusive performances for former President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. 

A self-taught musician and composer who write and produces all his own music, Micky's journey began with a natural connection to his audience. His inspiring story and talent led to an interview with Univision Broadcasting, where he was introduced to the legendary Bo Diddley, who helped produce his second CD. The Micky Cruz Show is now a premiere headliner act, taking the stage at the hottest clubs, hotels, and casinos in major cities, including Las Vegas, Miami, Denver, New York City, and Albuquerque.

Antonio Burciaga, with 35 years of experience under his belt, is a seasoned professional whose musical career began at the age of 10. His mastery extends across the rhythmic spectrum as an accomplish drummer, versatile percussionists, and electrifying DJ. From the stage to the booth, Antonio delivers a performance built on decades of passion, precision, and deep musical knowledge. 

Hugo Reyes is a multi-instrumentalist and distinguished veteran of the music industry, bringing over three decades of experience to every performance and project. His mastery spans keyboards, bass, percussion, and accordion, contributing a dynamic range to his work. Reye's career has taken him across international stage, with notable performances throughout the United States and Mexico. 

artistic example: Present Music premieres Raven Chacon's 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning composition "Voiceless Mass" on November 21st, 2021 at The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee. Present Music, along with the Wisconsin Conference of the United Church of Christ and Plymouth Church UCC, commissioned "Voiceless Mass" by Raven Chacon for the 40th season of their concert series. “Voiceless Mass” is scored for organ, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, two percussionists, strings and sine tones. Raven Chacon writes: "This work considers the spaces in which we gather, the history of access of these spaces, and the land upon which these buildings sit. Though ‘mass’ is referenced in the title, the piece contains no audible singing voices, instead using the openness of the large space to intone the constricted intervals of the wind and string instruments. In exploiting the architecture of the cathedral,  Voiceless Mass considers the futility of giving voice to the voiceless, when ceding space is never an option for those in power." See more about Present Music at www.PresentMusic.org.

Guest Curators

Enrique Lamadrid, PhD {Embudo / ABQ} is Professor Emeritus, Distinguished Professor of Spanish at the University of New Mexico. His research interests include ethnopoetics, folklore and music, Chicano literature, contemporary Mexican poetry, and literary translation. His field work centers in NM, but ranges as well into Mexico, Spain, the Andes and the Caribbean. His research on the Indo- Hispanic traditions of New Mexico charts the influence of indigenous cultures on the Spanish language and imagination. His literary writings explore the borderlands between cultures, their natural environments, and between popular traditions and literary expression. In 2006 and 2008 he organized an international research team working on the spiritual traditions of the Camino Real, with special focus on Durango, the role of penitential brotherhoods, and the Mexico experiences of Padre Antonio José Martínez. In 2009 and 2010 he organized expeditions to Aguascalientes, Mexico and Jinotepe, Nicaragua to document popular festivals on Santiago, the patron saint of Spain most associated with conquest and resistance to conquest.

​Author of numerous books and articles, Enrique Lamadrid’s collaboration with renowned photographer Miguel Gandert is legendary. In 2009 they were jointly awarded the Gilberto Espinosa Prize by the New Mexico Historical Society for their work on the intangible cultural heritage of the Camino Real, “Hermanitos Comanchitos”: Indo-Hispano Rituals of Captivity and Redemption (UNM Press 2003), won the Chicago Folklore Prize in 2004, the oldest and most important in the nation for folklore and ethnography. Nuevo México Profundo: Rituals of an Indo-Hispano Homeland (Museum of NM 2000), a previous collaboration with Gandert won the prestigious Southwest Book Award in 2001. In 2005, Hermanitos Comanchitos also won the Southwest book award. The same year he was awarded the Américo Paredes Prize by the American Folklore Society in 2005 to recognize his community based cultural work. Lamadrid is a scholar of the corrido ballad tradition of Greater Mexico and has several key articles on the subject, as well as a book co-authored with Jack Loeffler, La Música de los Viejitos: Hispano Folk Music of the Río Grande del Norte (UNM Press). He has produced a notable series of CDs.

In the museum world, he led the design team and was co-curator of the permanent exhibit at the International Camino Real Heritage Center south of Socorro, NM. He was also a member of the curatorial team of the Smithsonian “El Río” exhibit on bio-regionalism and traditional culture in the Río Grande/Bravo basin. Lamadrid was sole curator of “Nuevo México, ¿Hasta Cuándo?: Four Centuries of Hispanic Ballady”, a component of the renown Smithsonian exhibit “Corridos sin Fronteras / Ballads without Borders: A New World Ballad Tradition.”

Lamadrid is also an acequia activist and scholar of traditional water management. He and his students are preparing documentation for a UNESCO nomination for the Acequia cultures and systems of New Mexico and northern Mexico for world heritage status in the category of intangible cultural heritage. He is mayordomo of five sub-laterals of the Gallegos Lateral in Albuquerque’s north valley, a district of 90 parciantes known as Acequia los Alamos de los Gallegos. His recent children’s book is titled Juan the Bear and the Water of Life: La Acequia de Juan del Oso, and combines the history of the acequias in the beautiful Mora valley with the famous Juan del Oso cycle of traditional cuentos.

Robert Lucero is a native of northern New Mexico. He began playing music as soon as he could stand and reach the keys on the old upright player piano in his parents’ home. Coming from a musical family where he played and sang ranchera music on guitar, trumpet, keyboards, acordeón, and vocals with primos y primas, he also trained in classical piano and symphonic band trumpet.  Robert first began playing mariachi in high school with Mariachi Española, directed by his late father, Robert “Bobby” Lucero.

After leaving New Mexico for college, he founded, in the fall of 1994, and directed, until the spring of 1998, el Mariachi Cardenal de Stanford, which continues to perform to this day. He was instrumental in establishing the mariachi ensemble class in the Music Department at Stanford. After a year of graduate school at Stanford, he was appointed adjunct faculty in the Stanford Music Department, where he was the lead instructor of the mariachi ensemble class for five years. During this time, Robert taught mariachi in public schools and at the Mexican Heritage Corporation Plaza in San Jose, CA. Robert has also been honored to teach armonía and trumpet at Mariachi Spectacular de Albuquerque, and other mariachi conferences and festivals in New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas.

During and after his time at Stanford, he performed mariachi music professionally in and around San Jose, CA, including with Mariachi Santa Cecilia, Mariachi Azteca, and other ensembles. He also performed and recorded other musical genres, such as son jarocho, son Cubano, cumbia, vallenato, son huasteco, and Chican@ music, with various ensembles throughout California and beyond.

Returning to New Mexico in 2005, Robert began law school at the University of New Mexico, during and after which he performed with Mariachi Tapatío, Mariachi Tepeyac, and Mariachi Tenampa.

In the fall semester 2019, Robert re-initiated the mariachi ensemble class at UNM, with the essential support of visionary leadership at the UNM College of Fine Arts and Department of Music, as well as the invaluable contributions of his fellow instructors. He continues to instruct the UNM Music Department mariachi ensemble class.

In addition to his music career, Robert maintains a law practice centering on real estate, land use, and estate planning. He remains active in community service with several boards and organizations such as the UNM John Donald Robb Musical Trust, the State Bar of New Mexico Committee on Diversity in the Legal Profession, the UNM School of Law Alumni/ae Association (Past President), and the United Way of Central New Mexico Hispano Philanthropic Society.  He has taught as an adjunct faculty member at the UNM School of Law, and he is a frequent presenter at continuing legal education classes.

Poster Artist

Jim Vogel deftly weaves color and emotion, detail and shape into paintings that reflect life and land in New Mexico. Vogel hails from a family of storytellers, so each of his works tells its own tale of the land, the culture, and the common man's struggle. Vogel's storytelling continues including paintings which depict New Mexican folklore and myths that have crossed cultures and been told for generations. "I'm trying to put images to these stories I've heard over and over from my mother and father," says the artist. Vogel is also well known for his paintings featuring New Mexican landscapes and rural life, many of which feature beautiful hand-made tin frames.

Educational Outreach

Each year ¡Música del Corazón! delivers 'eduformaces' lasting approximately 30 to 120 minutes. Events feature artists performing in the annual November ¡Música del Corazón! concert, plus invited specialists of northern New Mexico Spanish cultural history, dance, and music.

2025 Educational Outreach Events

Friday 7 November 11am-1:30pm
Felix Peralta
Siembra Leadership High School will visit UNM Keller Hall
Tour of Keller Hall, open rehearsal and Q&A with Felix

Saturday 15 November 2-4pm
NM Folk Dance Workshop
Lucy Salazar & Tios Mios
Northern NM College, El Rito campus
State Rd 554, El Rito, NM, 87530 | directions

Lucy Salazar will teach treasured NM folk dances such as El Talián, La Cuna, and La Vaquera accompanied by the musical duo, Tios Mios ~ Kateri Lopez and Rosie Hutchinson. This is a FREE family-friendly community event. All ages are welcome. 

Lucy Salazar is a Nuevo Mexicana born in Agua Fria, NM. She has been dancing since childhood as her grandfather, uncles, aunts and father all were musicians. She learned these traditional New Mexican Folk dances from her parents and grandparents and have made it her passion to preserve and teach these dances to the younger generation and anyone who may want to learn them. She has been involved in teaching traditional dances, working through the New Mexico Arts Division Artist in Residence Program and The National Hispanic Cultural Center as well as private events throughout New Mexico. She is in the process of documenting these dances in a book and hopes to include YouTube links of the dances. 

Thank you to our co-sponsor Northern New Mexico Community College, El Rito Campus.

The Robb Concert is part of the Robb Symposium Series.

Composers
John Donald Robb, Kelly Feng/冯重瑞, Jonathan Golove, Carlos Santiago Medina, Lucas Stafford, Natasha Stojanovska

Performers
Maxine Thévenot organ, Jeffrey Brooks clarinet, Jonathan Golove cello, Natasha Stojanovska piano, Mark Weber poet

The public was cordially invited to a free reception in the cathedral's fellowship hall following the concert.

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Overture and Fugue, WWO58 (1946)
John Donald Robb (1892-1989)
Maxine Thévenot organ

Five Stages of Grief (2025) World Premiere 
Lucas Stafford (b. 2004)
Jonathan Golove cello

Wedding Music for Clarinet and Organ    
John Donald Robb
Jeffrey Brooks clarinet
Maxine Thévenot organ

Poems for Cello (2025) World Premiere    Carlos Santiago Medina (b. 2003)
Jonathan Golove cello

Hidden Messages, Voices from Behind a Screen (2025) World Premiere   
Kelly Feng/冯重瑞 (b. 2002)
Jonathan Golove cello

Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 75    
John Donald Robb
Jonathan Golove cello
Natasha Stojanovska piano

The Passing (2023) Dedicated to Dr. Dobroski   
Natasha Stojanovska (b. 1987)
Natasha Stojanovska piano

I do this, I do that #40   
Mark Weber (b. 1953) words, Jonathan Golove (b. 1966) music
Mark Weber poet
Jonathan Golove cello   

Introduction and Toccata for Goodsell Slocum, Op. 30 (1956)   
John Donald Robb
Maxine Thévenot organ

Kreisler’s Coat (2011)   
Jonathan Golove
Jonathan Golove cello
Natasha Stojanovska piano

Maxine Thévenot is an award-winning Canadian-American musician known for her skillful musical organ playing, inventive concert programming, and passionate, informed conducting. She combines a profound commitment to her liturgical work as a cathedral musician with concertizing, guest conducting, solo organ recitals, and collaborating with other musicians while striving for representation and access to music of all genres. 

Dr. Thévenot is the Director of Cathedral Music and organist at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John, Albuquerque, where she oversees an internationally renowned choral program and is the Artistic Director of the Friends of Cathedral Music community outreach series. She is also the Founding and Artistic Director of Polyphony: Voices of New Mexico, now celebrating its 19th season, and a Professor of Organ at the University of New Mexico.

Dr. Thévenot’s solo recital career has taken her throughout Europe and Great Britain, in every major city across Canada, and 44 of the 50 United States. Recognized for her excellence as a recording artist, Dr. Maxine Thévenot has released 17 well-received CDs on Raven CD. She is a published composer with Paraclete Press and her music has been performed in Western Europe and North America.

In the 2024-2025 season, Maxine will make music in churches in Little Rock, Nashville, New York City, Philadelphia, Victoria, British Columbia, and closer to home in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

A native of Saskatchewan, Canada, Dr. Maxine Thévenot received her bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of Saskatchewan (with Distinction), and her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the Manhattan School of Music.  She was twice awarded the Bronson Ragan Award at Manhattan School for ‘outstanding ability in organ performance’. Maxine is an Associate of the Royal Canadian College of Organists and the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto. She was made an Honorary Fellow of the National College of Music, London, UK, in 2006 for her “services to music.”

Here is Maxine Thévenot performing Praeludium in D, BuxWV 139 by Dietrich Buxtehude and Pièce d'Orgue, BWV 572 by J.S. Bach on the Reuter organ at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John, Albuquerque, NM.

Jonathan Golove, cellist-composer, is a dedicated performer of both new and traditional works, as well as of improvised music. He has performed throughout the United States and Europe at venues including Weill Recital Hall (Carnegie Hall), Zipper Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and London’s Southbank Centre. He has been featured as cello soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Slee Sinfonietta, and New York Virtuoso Singers. One of only a handful of performers on the theremin cello, Golove has appeared as soloist with the Asko/Schoenberg Ensemble, London Sinfonietta, and International Contemporary Ensemble, and he is a member of the 1. Deutsche Stromorchester. He is also active as an electric cellist, particularly in the field of creative improvised music. He has performed and recorded with jazz groups including the Michael Vlatkovich Tryyo and Quartet, Ubudis Quartet, and Vinny Golia’s Large Ensemble, and made appearances at the Vancouver Jazz Festival, the Eddie Moore Jazz Festival (Oakland), and the International Meeting of Jazz and New Music (Monterrey, Mexico). He has recorded for the Albany, Centaur, FMR, pfMENTUM, and Nine Winds labels, and his performances and interviews have been heard in broadcasts by numerous National Public Radio stations, as well as on Radio Nuevo León, West German Radio, CBC, and Radio France. His summer appearances include numerous festivals devoted to new works, including the Holland Festival (Amsterdam), Festival d’Automne (Paris), Lincoln Center Festival, June in Buffalo, and the Festival del Centro Histórico (Mexico City). Mr. Golove’s original compositions have been performed at venues including the Kennedy Center, Washington D.C., Venice Biennale, Festival of Aix-en-Provence, Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society II, and the Kitchen, and he has received awards and grants for his work from organizations including ASCAP, the Yvar Mikhashoff Trust for New Music, and Meet the Composer. He is an Associate Professor in UB’s Department of Music, and in 2023 he assumed the post of Artistic Director of UB’s Robert and Carol Morris Center for 21st Century Music and June in Buffalo festival.

Here is Jonathan Golove and Amy Williams performing Kreisler's Coat for cello and piano (2011) by Jonathan Golove (b.1966) and Kinderszenen, Op.15 (Scenes from Childhood) by Robert Schumann (1810-1856) at A Musical Feast Burchfield Penny Art Center October 14, 2016.

Jeffrey Brooks, in addition to being an active performer, is the Assistant Professor of Clarinet at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and the owner of ClarinetMonsteR.com. Before moving to Albuquerque in 2019, Jeff was an Artist Affiliate at Emory University and the adjunct Professor of Clarinet at Morehouse College in Atlanta. He served as sabbatical replacement at Florida State University and Ohio University and held teaching positions as adjunct clarinet instructor at Central Washington University and Walla Walla University. 

As a concerto soloist, Jeff, has been heard on numerous occasions. He has presented scores of solo recitals, and has performed with the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, Atlanta Symphony, Charleston Symphony, the Savannah Philharmonic, and many more symphonic organizations. In January 2018, he was a guest clinician at the annual Georgia Music Educators Association’s conference in Athens, GA.

Jeff has recorded for the Naxos and New World Record labels, independently released two jazz CD’s available on itunes.com, and recorded on multiple film soundtracks, video games, and commercials. In addition, he recently developed “Monsters of Clarinet”, a classical and jazz crossover pops program for jazz quartet and symphony orchestra that is currently being marketed nationally.

His teachers have included Dr. Frank Kowlasky, Dr. Deborah Bish, Eddie Daniels, Laura DeLuca, Chip Phillips, and Joseph Brooks and he holds a MM and a DM from Florida State University. Check out ClarinetMonsterR.com for details on Jeff’s clarinet repair and sales business, recordings, performance calendar, and soon to come Clarinet Monster Academy.

Here is Jeff Brooks performing Black Dog by Scott McAllister with the UNM Wind Symphony 19 September 2019, Albuquerque, NM.

Natasha Stojanovska, Macedonian pianist and composer, has earned recognition as a dynamic and innovative artist, seamlessly bridging Eastern European musical heritage with contemporary classical traditions. Her critically acclaimed debut album, Uncommon Voices (Navona Records), showcases music by Eastern European women composers and has been celebrated for its artistry and cultural significance. As a Featured Artist and guest curator for Classical Music Indy, Ms. Stojanovska remains a dedicated advocate for underrepresented voices. Her upcoming album, Uncommon Voices, Part II: American Women Composers, supported by a prestigious grant from the Musicians Club of Women in Chicago, continues her mission to highlight diverse perspectives in classical music.

Recent career highlights include performances at the Princeton Festival, Ear Taxi Music Festival, Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, and Henry Fogel's esteemed music series. A graduate of Northwestern University, Ms. Stojanovska holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Music Theory, where she studied under James Giles and earned Program Honors. Her earlier training includes an Artist Diploma and Master of Music in Piano Performance from Indiana University, where she studied with Alexander Toradze and Ketevan Badridze, and a Bachelor of Music from Lynn Conservatory of Music under Roberta Rust.

An active soloist and chamber musician, Dr. Stojanovska has performed extensively across Europe, the United States, South Korea, and Haiti, gracing prestigious stages such as the Gilmore Piano Festival. Her collaborations with luminaries including Renée Fleming, Patricia Barber, Rachel Barton Pine, Molly Barth, Shulamit Ran, Carmen-Helena Téllez, and Nathan Gunn underscore her versatility and artistic excellence. In addition to her performance career, she contributes as a composition and piano consultant, integrating her profound knowledge of creativity and performance.

Currently, Dr. Stojanovska serves as part-time faculty in Music Theory and Collaborative Pianist at the University of New Mexico, as well as Piano Professor at New Mexico School for the Arts. She balances an active teaching schedule with her vibrant solo career and co-directs the piano duo, The Stojanovska Sisters, with her sister Marina. This duo, three-time First Prize winners of the Macedonian National Competition, has delighted audiences across Europe and the United States for over 25 years.

Beyond her performance endeavors, Dr. Stojanovska is a dedicated cultural ambassador and community leader. She has introduced world-class international musicians to Santa Fe, NM, organizing performances at premier venues including the Scottish Rite Masonic Center, Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe, New Mexico School for the Arts, and SITE Santa Fe Museum. Additionally, she leads a thriving private studio, providing instruction in piano, music theory, composition, and vocal coaching. Through her artistry, pedagogy, and community engagement, Natasha Stojanovska remains a passionate advocate for classical music culture and intercultural understanding.

Here is Natasha performing Schubert's Moments Musicaux "Andantino" live in 2019.

Mark Weber, poet ---- I was shaped by my hometown, Los Angeles. Born 1953, raised in Cucamonga ---- Left SoCal 1986, lived in Redding CA (climbed Mt Lassen! camped at Whiskeytown Lake), Cleveland Ohio (close to all that water, my wife Janet in med school), Salt Lake City (close to the Red rock canyons), finally to Albuquerque 1991 which we love
wholeheartedly ------

Poetry is, for me, mostly note taking ----
I have pretty much wrote poems my entire life and 
published in all the usual small press places, too many and too boring to list them all ---- Was
LA correspondent for CODA jazz magazine for 18 years (member of the Pan Afrikan Peoples
Arkestra, also), in Albuquerque was Thursday afternoon jazz host on KUNM for 24 years (presently
I'm an "auxiliary host") ---- This past ten years I spend my days traipsing around the mountains
of New Mexico ---- Since 1980 I self-publish a chapbook of poems annually for friends (small
editions of 100-500) and the last 3 chaps have centered on my hikes in the Sandia Mountains ----
I'm a member of New Mexico Wilderness Society aka New Mexico Wild.

I do this, I do that #40

stay home do nothing
          ---- woo ----
stay home do nothing
do nothing stay home take it easy
don't go to copy shop
don't go to herb store
don't go to the library
don't go to the post office
skip it all
stay home do nothing
-------------whew ----
eat pancakes
bask in the late winter sun
out on the patio
maybe read Pablo Neruda
maybe not
stay home watch clouds
do nothing

Learn more about Mark at Jazz for mostly.

Here's "Crossing the Mojave and into the Highlands of Arizona with Bill, Eva, and Carol on the Stereo" by Mark Weber. Performed by Bill Payne (clarinet), Eva Lindal (violin), Carol Liebowitz (piano), and Mark Weber (poet). Scholes Street Studio, Brooklyn, NY CD Release Concert (Line Art Records LA1001) May 8, 2015 Video by René Pierre Allain.

John Donald Robb (1892-1989) led a rich and varied life as an attorney, composer, arts educator, and folk song collector and preservationist. He composed an impressive body of work including symphonies, concertos, sonatas, chamber and other instrumental music, choral works, songs, and arrangements of folk songs, two operas, including Little Jo, a musical comedy, Joy Comes to Deadhorse, and more than 65 electronic works. Robb’s orchestral works have been played by many major orchestras in the United States and abroad under noted conductors, such as Hans Lange, Maurice Bonney, Maurice Abravanel, Leonard Slatkin, Gilberto Orellano, Yoshimi Takeda, Guillermo Figueroa, James Richards and Franz Vote.

Here is a 1988 performance of Robb's Symphony No. 1, Op. 16 by the Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque, David Oberg Music Director and Conductor. This was the first performance of the complete Symphony. The Elegy (with cello obligato) was recorded circa 1979 by the Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque and was released on Opus One label Number Fifty-one (Max Schubel, owner and founder). The Elegy was composed shortly after World War II and was dedicated to the soldiers, sailors, and airmen who gave their lives in that war.

Kelly Feng/冯重瑞 is a composer who works with electronic music, electroacoustic music, traditional concert music, and intermedia art. Her music explores proximity and intimacy in the artist-to-audience relationship as a way to challenge and resist traditional power structures in the Western concert music tradition. She is also interested in how different mediums translate to one another, such as from sound to movement, to poetry, to interactive art displays.

Recipient of the 2024 Erickson Prize and the 2023 Dr. Milton H. Saier, Sr. Memorial Award, Kelly holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of California, San Diego, where she graduated summa cum laude. She is currently working on her Master’s degree in Theory and Composition from the University of New Mexico. Her teachers include Peter Gilbert, Karola Obermueller, Rand Steiger, Chinary Ung, Lei Liang, and Marcos Balter.

Kelly was born in Shenzhen, China, and was raised between San Jose, California and her hometown. She is currently based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Here is a performance of How Much of Me by Kelly Feng/冯重瑞 performed by Jesse Tatum, at the Robb Electronica concert, Tuesday 4 February 2025, UNM ARTSLab. Recording and Video Editing by Kelly Feng. Special thanks to Peter Gilbert, Valery Estabrook, Sarah Bennett Davidson, and Stewart Copeland.

Carlos Santiago Medina, or Santi, is a guitarist and composer born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He currently studies at the University of New Mexico, working towards a bachelor's in music theory and composition. 

Alongside his college studies, Santi participates in the Albuquerque Composer Collective. A student organization that advocates for DIY (do it yourself) music projects, events, and collaborations.

Inspired by his metal phase in his teenage years, Santi fell in love with the post-tonal works of Leo Brouwer, Béla Bartók, and Arnold Schoenberg. Though his musical aesthetic reflects his punk and serialist influences, Santi would describe his style as “New Mexican”.

Here's a performance of Santi's work, Dos Poemas Del Paramo. His sister wrote the poems/lyrics which he set to music. The performers are New York City based loadbang, a mixed ensemble for voice, clarinet, trumpet, and trombone. Visit Santi's YouTube channel to hear more of his artistry.

Lucas Stafford is a pianist and composer pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Theory and Composition at the University of New Mexico. He focuses on a warm “New Romanticism” aesthetic, blending orchestral romanticism, a taste of modern minimalism, and hints of impressionism in order to create emotionally compelling melodies and deep harmonic stories. Lucas draws inspiration from composers such as Edvard Grieg, Antonín Dvořák, and Claude Debussy, among many others. He uses his position as the Vice President of the Albuquerque Composers Collective to work with the FDMA school at UNM to expand his horizons into the video game and film music industry, where he will focus his career.

Here is an audio recording of Subsequent Starfall, Lucas's entry for the Synthase 5-Day Composition Challenge. His piece is designed to mimic the twinkling of a field of stars. One of the requirements of the challenge was to utilize a series of repeating octaves on high C, in a drone-like fashion, so the piece always retains some kind of tone rooted in C, even as a suspension. Visit Lucas's SoundCloud channel at Stafford Scoring to hear more of his beautiful compositions.

When Raven Chacon debuted Tiguex (Score for the City of Albuquerque) on September 27, 2025, echoes of John Donald Robb and the Robb Musical Trust were heard in the ambitious composition that was performed in 20 movements across the city from sunrise to sunset.

Tiguex’s third movement, “The Greeters,” features three songs from Robb’s field recordings, and Trust Chair Robert Lucero’s UNM mariachi students perform in the tenth movement, “The Balladeers.” Chacon, who earned a BA in music from UNM, acknowledges decades of interest in Robb’s music and UNM archives and the Robb Trust Composers’ Symposium.

The day-long composition was live-streamed on KUNM and scores of UNM music students and faculty were among the participants. Details and locations. 

Chacon (spiderwebinthesky.com) received the 2025 Robb Award during the Trust’s annual ¡Música del Corazón! celebration of New Mexico music on November 16 at Keller Hall.

Learn more about the UNM CSWR Robb Musical Archives.

Here's an interview with Raven and Robb Trust board member Nancy Harbert, recorded on the Keller Hall stage, October 2025.

And here's a video clip of the UNM Mariachi performing in Chacon's Tiguex, recorded by their Director, Robert Lucero, Jr. 

Chacon shares, "The transcriptive work of John Donald Robb has been influential to my practice, and my understanding of the extended musical traditions of our home. Robb's own electronic music has also been a fascinating source for me, and the work of the Robb Trust, particularly the Composers' Symposiums, have been an important part of my life (I first attended in 1989 when John Cage was the guest)."

Experience a groundbreaking sonic journey with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, MacArthur fellow, and UNM Music Composition Alumnus Raven Chacon as he premieres Tiguex (Score for the City of Albuquerque) on September 27, 2025. This large-scale composition unfolds across the city in twenty overlapping movements, each performed in a location mapped by Chacon’s lithographic score done at Tamarind Institute. Inspired by the landscapes and histories of the central Rio Grande valley, Tiguex invites you to hear Albuquerque in a whole new way—from volcanoes to railroads, pueblos to Route 66. Don’t miss this one-day-only event that transforms the city into a living, breathing concert hall. 

The UNM John Donald Robb Musical Trust is a proud sponsor of Tiguex. 

Below are photos of several movements from Chacon's Tiguex by Robb Trust board member Nancy Harbert. 

2024

Friday 30 August 11:00am
John Link composer
Location: CFA Room 1111
Program: composer talk

Friday 6 September 11:00am
Jeffrey Gavett composer, baritone
Location: CFA Room 1111
Program: composer talk

Friday 13 September 11:00am
Agustín Castilla-Ávila composer, guitarist, author, artistic researcher
Location: CFA Room 1111
Program: NEVERENDINGARTIST: A proposal for a transdisciplinary classification

Sérgio Azevedo Visiting Artist Residency

Thursday 19 September 9:30am
Sérgio Azevedo composer
Location: CFA Room 2100
Program: lecture on Portuguese music

Wednesday 25 September 7:30-9pm
WORLD PREMIERE ...Contempla, alma, y considera double concerto for oboe and viola
Sérgio Azevedo composer
Kevin Vigneau oboe
Kimberly Fredenburgh viola
Sebastián Serrano-Ayala conductor
UNM Symphony Orchestra
Location: Popejoy Hall
Tickets: $15 adult, $10 senior, $5 student
general admission, purchase tickets
Also on the program: Bolero Maurice Ravel, Capriccio español Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Huapango José Pablo Moncayo

The Robb Trust is a proud underwriter of the Azevedo double concerto commission.

Thursday 26 September 2pm
Sérgio Azevedo composer, pianist
Location: Keller Hall
Program: Azevedo performs Azevedo, solo piano recital

Friday 27 September 11:00am
Sérgio Azevedo composer
Location: CFA Room 1111
Program: artist talk and composition master class with UNM composition students

line upon line artist residency

Thursday 3 October 6:30pm
line upon line percussion ensemble
Location: CFA Room B120
Program: masterclass

Friday 4 October 11:00am
line upon line percussion ensemble
Location: CFA Room 1111
Program: commissioning and collaboration talk

2025

Peter Ko Contemporary Cello Residency

Thursday 30 January 11:00am
Peter Ko cello
Location: tba
Program: master class with UNM graduate string quartet

Friday 31 January 11:00am
Peter Ko cello
Location: CFA 1111
Program: master class with UNM composition students

As a performer, his training and projects have taken him across the USA, Mexico, Canada, and Europe, performing in festivals such as soundSCAPE, SICPP, Darmstädter Ferienkurse, the Green Box Arts Festival, and Neofonía Festival de Música Nueva Ensenada. Peter currently serves as principal cellist for the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus, and has worked with the Palimpsest and Renga ensembles, Yarn/Wire, Project [BLANK], and San Diego New Music.

Peter has received his significant musical training from Charles Curtis, Vernon Regehr, Ron Leonard, Ashley Walters, and Mario Ramirez. He has also received coaching from many other notable artists, including Lynn Harrell, Felix Fan, Mark Fewer, Adrian Brendel, the Gryphon Trio, and the Danish String Quartet. He holds a MMus from Memorial University of Newfoundland, and a BA from University of California, San Diego. He is currently a DMA Candidate in Contemporary Music Performance at UC San Diego.

Tuesday 4 February 5:30pm
Music for Flute & Live Electronics
Jesse Tatum flute
new works by Feng, Arellano, Falk, De León-Ortiz, Vaagen & electronic works of John Donald Robb

UNM Arts Lab
131 Pine Street NE @Central & University
Albuquerque, NM 87106
(505) 277-2253
Directions 

Jesse Tatum is a relentless musician, performing chamber music, orchestral music, operas, and solo works. They are Principal Flute of The Santa Fe Symphony, Santa Fe Pro Musica, Opera Southwest Orchestra, and a Principal Player at Chatter, where she has performed well over a decade of adventurous chamber music with the innovative Albuquerque based chamber ensemble. Additionally, Jesse has performed many seasons with The Santa Fe Opera and the New Mexico Philharmonic.

Tatum is described as “reliably excellent” (Santa Fe New Mexican), “The principal flutist Jesse is just a rock star” (Ryan McAdams, conductor), “She is the music of the universe and cannot be contained” (Meow Wolf). Pasatiempo called her an “overachiever” in their profile of the flutist.

Recognized for their authentic, fearless performances, Jesse was featured on KHFM’s 10 at 10 in 2024 with a program of solo works for flute. In 2022, Jesse performed as a concerto soloist with The Santa Fe Symphony, the New Mexico Philharmonic, Chatter, and Santa Fe Pro Musica. An enthusiast of the intersection of visual and musical performance art, they were a regularly featured performer from 2017-2020 at the trailblazing Meow Wolf in Santa Fe. In spring 2023, Tatum performed on a decommissioned rifle for Disarm Flute by Pedro Reyes at SITE Santa Fe. Jesse performed a show of contemporary works for solo flute as FluTeBot in conjunction with the 2018 exhibition Patrick Nagatani: Excavations: Buried Cars and Other Stories.  Jesse was a prizewinner at the Myrna Brown Artist Competition. She has performed at the Currents International New Media Festival and appeared as a soloist with the Albuquerque Philharmonic.

Jesse has collaborated with many composers and participated in numerous world, US, and New Mexico premieres of solo, chamber, orchestra and opera works. In 2019 Jesse co-created the Santa Fe Symphony’s Strata series and curated chamber concerts in collaboration with various organizations in Santa Fe. Tatum was a co-curator for Santa Fe Symphony’s “Music of the Multiverse,” a highly lauded collaboration with Meow Wolf in 2021. They have been a Featured Performer of Powell Flutes, profiled in Albuquerque The Magazine, appeared in Rolling Stone magazine, and served multiple times as a Newly Published Music judge for the National Flute Association. 

As a student, Jesse was a member of the Catania International Music Festival and the National Repertory Orchestra. Jesse studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the University of New Mexico. They are also a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice.

Electronica concert video teaser below: 

Sunday 30 March 4:00pm
53rd Annual Robb Concert
Maxine Thévenot organ
Jonathan Golove cello
Jeffrey Brooks clarinet
Natasha Stojanovska piano
Mark Weber poet
Location: Episcopal Cathedral of St. John
Program (order tba):

• Robb Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 75
• Three Robb Organ Works: *Overture and Fugue (1946), *Introduction and Toccata (1956), *Wedding Music for Clarinet and Pipe Organ, Op. 7
• Two Works by Jonathan Golove: *Kreisler’s Coat (2011) for violoncello and piano, *I do this, I do that #40 for violoncello and spoken word
• The Passing (2023) by Natasha Stojanovska
• Three World Premieres for Unaccompanied Cello: *Hidden Messages, Voices from Behind a Screen (2025) ~ 冯重瑞 Kelly Feng (b. 2002), *Poems for Cello (2025) ~ Carlos Santiago Medina (b. 2003), *Five Stages of Grief (2025) ~ Lucas Stafford (b. 2004)

Details at robbtrust.org/robbconcert.html.

Sacred Choral Music and Ritual Dance on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro: 1598-1821 ~ 11th Annual John Donald Robb, Jr. Memorial Concert

Sunday 24 November 2024
FREE family-friendly community event
2pm round table 3pm concert
UNM Keller Hall | directions

FREE City of ABQ street & meter parking. FREE UNM surface lot parking at Central between Girard and Princeton | directions. Convenient paid parking at UNM Cornell Parking Structure | directions.

View, download, print a complimentary 2024 Commemorative Program.

Schedule

Visit the John Donald Robb information table and meet members of the Robb Trust Board in the Keller Hall lobby.

2pm  Preconcert round table (45 minutes)

• Sacred Choral Music: Dr. Javier Marín-López
• Ritual Dance: Dr. Enrique Lamadrid
• Facilitator: Dr. Ana Alonso-Minutti

                    Break
​3pm  Concert (approx. 100 minutes)

• Sacred Choral Music: UNM Concert Choir + Música Antigua de Albuquerque

                    Break

• Robb Award presentation: Michael Mauldin, composer
• Ritual Dance: Matachines de la Merced del Cañón de Carnué

Co-Curator Statement

During Spanish colonial times, the church was the patron of the visual, musical, and dramatic arts. The Counter-Reformation generously financed artists and composers to lend their talents to inspire Catholics with the spectacles of their faith. Sacred music echoed daily, resonating from the great stone cathedrals of New Spain to the humble adobe churches of New Mexico. During the great Pueblo Revolt of 1680, churches and sacred art were destroyed in the northlands, along with all traces of the repertory of sacred music. However, evidence found along the Camino Real shows that music played a daily, vibrant role in the liturgical calendar, spanning from Advent to Pentecost. It flourished particularly during Christmas and Holy Week seasons, as well as in Marian feasts and celebrations of particular saints like St. Francis or Santiago. UNM Concert Chorus and Música Antigua de Albuquerque draw from the music of the Camino Real from Mexico City north, as well as from the 18th century California missions.

The calendar also featured seasonal autos sacramentales or sacramental plays, especially the Pastorela or Christmas shepherd's plays and La Pasión, the Passion of the Christ. Numerous other plays celebrated everything from Adam and Eve to the Virgin of Guadalupe. All had their own distinctive music that offered a reprieve from the solemnity of the Mass. Sixty days after Easter, Corpus Christi provided an opportunity for even more celebration. Villancicos or carols were sung in Spanish and Native languages. On such special occasions, costumed dancers appeared in the Tocotín, a ritual dance of Mexican origin. Its cousin, the Matachines dance, dramatizes the spiritual Conquest of Mexico and celebrates the emergence of a new Indo-Hispano culture. It was performed in and out of church from Mexico City to Santa Fe, spilling onto plazas and streets. The sones that still accompany the masked dance in New Mexico are the most ancient instrumental music in the land. Our program honors dancers and musicians from La Merced del Cañón de Carnué, the land grant in the mountains east of Albuquerque, especially since John Donald Robb visited there and recorded the songs on many occasions.

~ Dr. Javier Marín-López, Sacred Choral Music Curator
~ Dr. Enrique Lamadrid, Ritual Dance Curator

Educational Outreach

Each year ¡Música del Corazón! delivers 'eduformaces' lasting approximately 30 to 90 minutes. Events feature artists performing in the annual November ¡Música del Corazón! concert. Educational Outreach presentations incorporate Northern New Mexico Spanish cultural history, dance, and music. All educational outreach events are free admission and the public is cordially invited to attend.

Tentative 2024 Educational Outreach Events

Friday 22 November 10:00am-11:00am
Artist: Matachines de la Merced del Cañón de Carnué
Location: National Hispanic Cultural Center ~ theatre to be announced
Program: Matachines lecture-demonstration with student interaction

Friday 22 November 1:00pm-2:00pm
Artist: Matachines de la Merced del Cañón de Carnué
Location: National Hispanic Cultural Center ~ theatre to be announced
Program: Matachines lecture-demonstration with student interaction

Friday 22 November 3:00pm-5:00pm
Artists: UNM Concert Choir + Música Antigua de Albuquerque
Location: University of New Mexico ~ Keller Hall
Program: Open rehearsal + tour of Keller Hall / Center for the Arts (CFA)

Additional education/outreach event to be announced.

Production

Guest Curators

• Javier Marín-López, PhD {Úbeda / Jaén, Spain} Musicologist and Professor, University of Jaén
• Enrique Lamadrid, PhD {Embudo / ABQ} Historian of Chicano, Mexican American, and Hispano culture, Professor Emeritus, University of New Mexico

Keller Hall

• Rebecca RJ Smith, Production Manager
• Margaret Liz Rincon, Audio/Visual Senior Technician

John Donald Robb Musical Trust

• lisa nevada ~ ¡Música del Corazón! Artistic Director
• Robert Lucero, Jr. ~ Board of Directors Chair
• Rosalia Pacheco, PhD ~ Education Specialist
• Ana Alonso-Minutti, PhD ~ Archives & Underwriting Committee Chair
• Robert Tillotson, PhD ~ Performance & Education Committee
• Jim Bonnell ~ Board of Directors Secretary
• Julia Souto de Camargo ~ Graduate Assistant
• Thomas Goodrich ~ Program Specialist

Sponsors

• JOHN DONALD ROBB MUSICAL TRUST
• COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS
• DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC
• LATIN AMERICAN & IBERIAN INSTITUTE
• DEPARTMENT OF SPANISH & PORTUGUESE
• DEPARTMENT OF CHICANA & CHICANO STUDIES
  

Michael Mauldin
Composer and Music Educator

Born in Texas in 1947, Michael Mauldin moved to New Mexico in 1971 for "the light, the space and the timelessness." That year he met JD Robb, with whom he worked to develop the New Mexico Composers Guild. He completed a Master’s Degree in composition at UNM, opened a music school, raised a family and wrote music. In 1980 he won the “Composer of the Year” award of the Music Teachers National Association for “Voices from Chaco: Concertino for Piano and Woodwind Quintet.” In 1985 "Fajada Butte: An Epiphany," commissioned by the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, was performed at Kennedy Center by the National Repertory Orchestra for the 20th anniversary of the National Endowment for the Arts. Mauldin first visited New Mexico in the late 1950's when his father brought his family to church retreats at Ghost Ranch. While exploring red arroyos one day, he encountered artist Georgia O’Keefe painting a landscape. He remembered her distinctive appearance but learned only later who she was. He determined that he wanted to live in a place like that--a place that "surrounds you with colorful space--and creates new space inside you."

His catalogue contains over 90 works, from chamber, orchestral and choral music, to works for harp, organ, guitar and piano. His music is “accessible, yet distinctive and memorable.” It often portrays the power and magic of the rugged beauty and ancient cultures of his adopted state of New Mexico. "Prayer of Mesas," for the University of New Mexico Chorus and Orchestra, was commissioned by UNM and the City of Albuquerque to celebrate the university's centennial in 1988.

Michael served for four years as the national chair of the Student Composition Contest of the Music Teachers National Association. He served for seven years as Musical Director of the Albuquerque Boy Choir (of which his sons are alumni), which grew to three choirs, 85 boys between ages 7 and 17, who toured, recorded and completed a rigorous musicianship program.

Mauldin guest-conducted student and community orchestras, and he conducted the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra in recording sessions to prepare five of his orchestral pieces for the compact-disc album, "Enchanted Land." As a public speaker, clinician, composer and performer, he actively promoted private and public arts-education throughout the country. He has also been an advocate for the rights of children, holding that discipline is more than repression, and that society is repaid when children and young people are treated with respect and allowed to participate in choices regarding their own minds, bodies and spirits.

Critical Acclaim:

• “Full of space and spirit.”  Albuquerque Journal
• “Characteristic and grateful instrumental writing.”   Santa Fe Reporter
• “Intriguingly new and overwhelmingly beautiful.”  New Mexican
• “An evocation of place in a more modern idiom.”  Records International
• “Full of beauty and charm.”  American Record Guide
• “Attractive, contemporary-sounding, yet manageable pieces.”  American Music Teacher

Learn more about Michael:

• Website
• Compositions
• Recordings
• YouTube
• Facebook

Video: Michael Mauldin's "Prayer of Mesas" for large orchestra and chorus (1989) performed by the Kyiv Philharmonic and Chorus. Text: "Father the Sun, Our Mother the Earth, Bless this place where the powers move-- the great powers that move between earth and sky! May the people that move upon us know from whence they came. Let the space of the land open their minds, that they may let the earth heal. May they let the earth heal, that they may live among us, and know from whence they came." Images: Dissolve photos of San Juan Mesa, Jemez Mountains, New Mexico.

Julia Souto De Camargo {Brazil} is a mezzo-soprano and a Master of Music graduate from the University of New Mexico’s Music department, focusing on Voice Performance. She is interested in ethnomusicology studies and developing research about musical manifestations from her country, during her bachelor’s degree in music education at the University of São Paulo. Passionate about education, archivism, and music in its diversity, she currently holds the John Donald Robb Graduate Music Assistantship. Through this program, she works with the UNM Libraries' Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections, focusing on the Robb Archives, serves on the production team for the Trust's public programming, and provides clerical support of the Trust's day-to-day operations.

Performance Example

Here is Julia Camargo and collaborative pianist James Harder performing an excerpt of Mario de Andrade, Viola Quebrada arranged by Heitor Villa Lobos, from the Vocal Artistry Art Song Festival at the University of New Mexico, November 2023.

Monica Demarco was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her work is shaped by the vibrant and resilient Albuquerque arts community. She is grateful for the exchange of skills and vision that comes from living and collaborating in the Southwest. Her compositions have won numerous awards, such as the Scott Wilkinson Composition Contest at UNM in 2008 for the piece “Hijas y Mas” and again in 2009 for the piece “Fray.” The composition “Hijas y Mas” has undergone revision over the last decade and was featured as a graphic score installment for National Sawdust in Brooklyn, New York in 2019. Discussion of the work was also published in “Experimentalisms in Practice” by Dr. Ana R. Alonso-Minutti.

She acquired a dual bachelor’s degree from the University of New Mexico in music composition/theory and piano performance in 2009 and a master degree in social work from New Mexico Highlands University in 2020. She owns Monica Demarco Music in Albuquerque, which is dedicated to fostering creativity and passion for music in students of all abilities and ages. As a teacher, Demarco strives to provide musical skills, development informed by life course theory and family systems concepts to provide instruction that is socially conscious and uniquely tailored to the individual. 

Demarco performs under the name Cthulha. The project is a synthesis of Demarco’s passions, with piano at the heart and center of the ensemble. Cthulha has enjoyed collaboration with many amazing New Mexican artists who are all featured on the album Always Who You Were released in 2019 in collaboration with Matron Records.  She is also a bassist in the local Albuquerque band Chicharra, The second album Let’s Paint This Town in Craters was released through Matron Records in 2017. She has had the great pleasure of organizing and performing in the music festival Gatas y Vatas founded by Marisa Demarco, which has brought her joy, connection and performance opportunities all over the world. 

World Premiere

Map Songs (2024) for mezzo-soprano, flute, cello, piano, and electronics by Monica Demarco, poetry by Laura Tohe, Navajo Nation Poet Laureate.

The world premiere performance of Map Songs took place at the 52nd annual Robb Concert, Friday 29 March 2024, 7:30pm mst, UNM's Keller Hall. Admission is free. Laura Tohe read some of her poetry at the premiere.

Featured performers:

Jacqueline Zander-Wall mezzo-soprano
Jesse Tatum flute
Sally Guenther cello
Debra Ayers piano
Monica Demarco electronics