 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  Juantio Becenti (Diné / Farmington) lives in the four corners area of New Mexico close to his birthplace on the Navajo Nation. He began composing music at a young age and received his first commission from the Moab Music Festival in 1998. He has since received commissions from Dawn Avery (North American Indian Cello Project), Raven Chacon (Native American Composers Apprenticeship Program), Michael Barrett (New York Festival of Song), George Steel (Abrams Curator of Music, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum), and others. His compositions have been performed by the Phoenix Chamber Orchestra, Dawn Avery, ETHEL, America’s premier postclassical string quartet, and the Claremont Trio. He has studied at the Walden School for Young Musicians which he attended on full scholarship. He was the recipient of a grant from the First Nations Composers Initiative which he received in order to create original music for the film "Two Sprits", a documentary about the life and murder of Fred Martinez, a transgendered Navajo teenager.
World Premiere The Empty (2024) for mezzo-soprano, flute, cello, and piano, dedicated to United States Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, by Juantio Becenti, text "The Empty" ©2008 by Renee Podunovich Used With Permission from "If There Is A Center, No One Knows Where It Begins" ISBN 978-0-6152-0069-9. The world premiere performance of The Empty took place at the 52nd annual Robb Concert, Friday 29 March 2024, 7:30pm mst, UNM's Keller Hall. Featured performers: Jacqueline Zander-Wall mezzo-soprano Jesse Tatum flute Sally Guenther cello Debra Ayers piano Robb Symposium Series9/23/20242023-2024 Season 2023 Friday 15 September 11am Matthew Bertner, composer Location: CFA Room 1111 Program: Artist talk and composition master class with UNM composition students Friday 29 September 11am Rhonda Rider, cello Location: CFA Room 1111 Program: Read through and discussion of cello excerpts by UNM composition students Friday 27 October 11am Majel Connery, composer Location: CFA Room 1111 Program: Artist talk  Wolf Tones '23 poster by Hannah Trader Friday 27 October 7pm Wolf Tones '23 Concert #1 New Mexico Contemporary Ensemble * Location: UNM Arts Lab Program: tba Saturday 28 October 7pm Wolf Tones '23 Concert #2 Manny Rettinger and The Chuppers * Location: UNM Arts Lab Program: tba * An audio-visual analogue-hybrid installation by Micah Hood will also be featured. Friday 3 November 11am Leo Eguchi, cello Location: Keller Hall Program: Read through and discussion of UNM composition student works 2024  Friday 23 February 7:30pm loadbang Location: Keller Hall Composers: Doug Falk, Elias Lang, Carlos S. Medina, Axel Retif, Lucas Stafford, Heather Stebbins Program:
 Thursday 28 March 2:00pm Dana Wilson, composer Location: CFA Room B120 Thursday 28 March 7:30pm UNM Symphony Orchestra Tickets: $15 general admission, $10 seniors and UNM employees, $5 students Location: Popejoy Hall Director: Colonel Jim R. Keene Commander U.S. Army Field Band, UNM alum 1988 Program:
Friday 29 March 11:00am Reiko Füting, composer Location: CFA Room 1111  Friday 29 March 7:30pm Annual Robb Concert Composers: Juantio Becenti, Monica Demarco, Doug Falk, Reiko Füting, Tania León, Christopher Orphal, John Donald Robb Performers: Debra Ayers piano, Monica Demarco electronics, Kristin Ditlow piano, Sally Guenther cello, Daniel Lippel guitar, Jesse Tatum flute, Laura Tohe poet, Jacqueline Zander-Wall mezzo-soprano Program (performance order tba):
The public is cordially invited to a free reception in Keller Hall lobby following the concert.  Friday 12 April 11:00am Kurt Stallmann, composer Location: CFA Room 1111 Friday 26 April 11:00am Rodrigo Sigal, composer Location: CFA Room 1111 2022 Robb Commission1/16/2024 Patricia Alessandrini Patricia Alessandrini is a composer / sound artist, educator and researcher actively engaging with notions of canonicity, representation, interpretation, perception and memory, often in a social and political context, through work which is for the most part interactive and/or intermedial. She performs research on embodied interaction - including instrument design for inclusive performance - as well as on digitally-mediated performance and computer-assisted composition. Her works have been presented in numerous festivals, in the Americas, Asia, Australia, and over 15 European countries. She has also toured extensively as a performer of live electronics. She studied composition with electronics at the Conservatorio di Bologna and Ircam, holds a diploma in composition from the Conservatoire de Strasbourg, a PhD from Princeton University, and a second PhD from the Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC). World Premiere of Alessandrini's "Hear" for vocal sextet and trombone  Ekmeles vocal ensemble Ekmeles premiered Alessandrini's new work "Hear" during the 2022 John Donald Robb Composers' Symposium at the beautiful Cathedral of St. John in downtown Albuquerque. Ekmeles is a New York-based vocal ensemble dedicated to the performance of new and rarely-heard works, and gems of the historical avant garde. With a special focus on microtonal works, they have been praised by the New York Times for their "extraordinary sense of pitch". Listen to the world premiere of Alessandrini's "Hear" performed by Ekmeles, featuring trombonist William Lang, recorded live at the Cathedral of St. John in Albuquerque, 7 April 2022 during the 50th Annual John Donald Robb Composers' Symposium (renamed the Robb Symposium Series in 2023).
Kyong Mee Choi 2018 Commission Winner5/28/2020Kyong Mee Choi, composer, organist, painter, visual artist, and poet, has received several prestigious awards and grants |
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