2023-2024 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

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:

• MOGOR (World Premiere) - Axel Retif
• Manic Evening (World Premiere) - Lucas Stafford
• This Land (World Premiere) - Doug Falk
• Dos Poemas Del Páramo (World Premiere) - Carlos S. Medina
• The Eye of Balor (World Premiere) - Elias Lang
• Quiver - Heather Stebbins
  

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:

• Carmen Suite No. 1 (Bizet)
• Black Iris (Esmail)
• Concerto for Horn and Orchestra (Dana Wilson), soloist Dr. Michael Walker
• Magnificent Seven Symphonic Suite (E. Bernstein)

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):

• Paisanos Semos! (1984) for solo guitar by Tania León (b. 1943)
• Heterogeneity (2021) for solo guitar by Doug Falk (b. 1981)
• Map Songs of the Sandhill Cranes poetry reading by Laura Tohe (b. 1952)
• Map Songs (2024) for mezzo-soprano, flute, cello, piano, and electronics by Monica Demarco (b. 1986), poetry by Laura Tohe ~ Robb Commission world premiere
• Fantasia on Songs from Los Pastores, Op. 40a (1964) for guitar and orchestra (reduction for guitar and piano) by John Donald Robb (1892-1989) dedicated to renowned Cuban guitarist and former UNM professor Héctor García (1930-2022). This performance is in celebration of Diane and Jim Bonnell's 60th wedding anniversary. The Bonnells are longtime patrons of the Robb Trust and Jim has served on its board of directors since 1991.
• The Empty (2024) for mezzo-soprano, flute, cello, and piano, dedicated to United States Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, by Juantio Becenti (b. 1984), text by Renee Podunovich from If There Is A Center, No One Knows Where It Begins ©2008 Used With Permission ~ Robb Commission world premiere
• (Less) Simple Studies in Microtonal Scordatura, Vol. 1 - Quartertones (I - V) (2024) for solo guitar by Chris Orphal (b. 1999) ~ world premiere
• wand-uhr: infinite shadows (Prélude) / Hine ma Tov (2013 / 2016) for solo guitar by Reiko Füting (b. 1970)

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

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).

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, composer, organist, painter, visual artist, and poet, has received several prestigious awards and grants

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

MARCH 1, 2016

FEBRUARY 1, 2016