we are ROBBtrust
2024 ¡Música del Corazón! curator 
2025 underwriting recipient
Javier Marín-López

Working with the UNM John Donald Robb Musical Trust has been exceptionally enriching. Serving as co-curator of ¡Música del Corazón! in 2024, receiving support through the 2025 Underwriting Program, and working with the Robb Archives have provided unique opportunities for research, scholarly exchange, and public engagement. These experiences have deepened my understanding of the region’s rich musical heritage and its connections with the broader United States, Mexico, and Spain, while fostering meaningful collaborations that continue to shape and transform my work as a musicologist. ~ Dr. Javier Marín-López

More information about Javier is available at his Linktree. Here are his mid-term and final reports for his 2025 Robb Trust Underwriting project, Vestiges of Hispanic Colonial Music in the John Donald Robb Archive of Southwestern Music.

Learn more
Música del Corazón
Underwriting
Robb Archives

we are ROBBtrust
2026 underwriting recipient
Mónica Sánchez
May 2026

MÓNICA SÁNCHEZ is a professional theatre artist. Over the past 40 years, she has honed the craft of professional actor; written plays and devised work for the stage; directed productions small and large; enjoyed a myriad of assignments as a teaching artist; and has facilitated numerous community engagements.She holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from the University of New Mexico and is a retired Professor of Playwriting and Performance at Colorado College, in Colorado Springs.

She began her theatre journey in her native New Mexico with La Compañía de Teatro de Alburquerque, before a 23-year residency in California where she would collaborate with El Teatro Campesino, Octavio Solís, Luís Alfaro, Culture Clash, the Latino Theatre Lab, South Coast Repertory, San Diego Repertory, Erik Ehn, Cornerstone Theatre, Shirley Jo Finney, Playwright's Arena, and Diane Rodriguez, among others. Television and Film credits include the roles of Dolores Huerta in The Glorias, House of Cards, and Primo, among others.

Her plays aspire to unveil the varied and underrepresented experiences of Latinidad in the U.S., particularly the complex and unique philosophical, cultural and historical milieu of the Southwest; not only ripe for dramatic exploration but also sorely missing from the canon of the American theatre. 

She currently resides in Albuquerque, NM where she continues her work in independent, professional, and community projects and is always keen to entertain collaborations near and far.

About "THE RIVER IS A SCAR THAT SOMETIMES BLEEDS WATER"

THE RIVER IS A SCAR THAT SOMETIMES BLEEDS WATER is the psycho-spiritual journey of "Negra", a Mestiz-Genizara-Chicana 21st Century war veteran returned to her ancestral homeland in the Southwest. Psychotropic plant medicine launches her odyssey through a ceremonial and multi-generational labyrinth where she must confront ancestral trauma and original wounds, making way for the ultimate transformation: her desire to live. Quintessential New Mexican topography, histories and rituals illuminate universal echoes of colonization, war, and climate crisis. This play is Negra’s “trip”.

The Robb Trust is providing funding for a workshop production of THE RIVER IS A SCAR THAT SOMETIMES BLEEDS WATER. A first staged reading of the play was recently conducted at the Albuquerque Museum to a standing room only audience. There was much interest in the performance. The general consensus was that the story spoke to the New Mexican experience, was of great significance, and needed to be told.

The workshop production is a step towards developing the play for a future, fully produced theatre event. The play encompasses a broad reach of New Mexican histories, customs, characters, and rituals. Traditional music and specific songs from the Robb collection are a vital element to completing the storytelling of this play’s narrative.

Sánchez's script has previously been supported by the Jackson Fellowship from Hulbert Center for Southwest Studies at Colorado College (2021), a micro-commission from The Alcove New Play Development at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in NYC (2023), and most recently from the City of Albuquerque’s Urban Enhancement Trust Fund’s (UETF) Resiliency Residency, in addition to production support from the Museum of Albuquerque for the Staged Reading that took place on 29 March 2026, in conjunction with the Delilah Montoya Retrospective: Activating Chicana Resistance.

Learn more about our annual underwriting.

we are ROBBtrust
beloved longtime board member
Jim Bonnell (1939-2025)
July 2025

Jim was a longtime board member and past Chair of the Robb Trust. Here is his obituary as it was printed in the Albuquerque Journal. He is dearly missed by many. 

James E. (Jim) Bonnell, age 85 died on July 17, 2025. From pioneering Otero County families, Jim was born in Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 22, 1939, to Charles E. Bonnell and Edith Ogle Bonnell.

After graduating from Alamogordo High School in 1957, Jim's education included a Masters in Music Education (plus 45 credit hours) which included a Certificate of Administration and Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of New Mexico. His graduate and post-graduate work, in addition to UNM, included Eastern New Mexico University, Western State College of Colorado, New Mexico State University, Eastman School of Music-University of Rochester, and Indiana University. He began his teaching career in Artesia, NM, where he met his lifelong beloved collaborator, Paula Diane Thompson, from Trumann, Arkansas. They were married in 1964 and recently celebrated their 61st anniversary.

After a career in New Mexico public schools in Artesia, Las Cruces, and Albuquerque which spanned almost thirty years, Mr. Bonnell retired in 1989 from Albuquerque Public Schools where he served in various positions including Instructor, District Specialist, District Coordinator, and District Director (Acting) of Music Education. In 1989, Mr. Bonnell began a second career in the non-profit field working with both the Boy Scouts of America and then with Jan Hosea & Associates, LLC, in April of 2002. He served as Chief Operations Officer for Madden Hosea & Associates.
Jim held leadership positions in numerous community and professional organizations and was recognized in 2019 with the New Mexico Platinum Music Award "for extraordinary lifetime achievement". He was currently Vice Chair of the University of New Mexico's John D. Robb Musical Trust Board of Directors, and an Advisory Board member of the New Mexico Performing Arts Society of Santa Fe. He previously served as Education Vice President, Program Vice President, Strategic Education Chair, and Ethics Education Chair, for the Board of Directors of the New Mexico Chapter of the Association for Fundraising Professionals, and was a past president and member of the Advisory Council of the Albuquerque Arts Alliance. Other affiliations have included Board of Directors, UNM College of Fine Arts Alumni Chapter (Past President), the New Mexico Music Educators' National Conference (Past President, Hall of Fame), the 1992 Arts Education Conference, and Arts Attack! Creating the Future, New Mexico Symphony Orchestra Board of Directors, New Mexico Symphony Orchestra Musicians (Past President), Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque Board of Trustees, and ACE Committee of Albuquerque Public Schools (Co-Chairperson). He represented the Great Southwest Council/Boy Scouts of America in many community roles including the District Advisory Council for Safe and Drug Free Schools, The Educational Success Alliance (Past President), the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce Career Guidance Institute K-12 Committee and Blue Ribbon Outstanding Students and Educators Awards Committee, and the Advisory Council for TASA (Team Against Substance Abuse in APS).
As a professional musician, he performed as a violist in many Southwestern organizations including the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Opera Southwest, the El Paso Symphony, the Roswell Symphony, the Albuquerque Civic Symphony, the New Mexico Chamber Orchestra, and retired in 1997 as principal viola of the Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque. He conducted various orchestras in the Albuquerque Youth Symphony Program: Valley Junior Orchestra, Heights Junior Orchestra, Albuquerque Junior Symphony, and Albuquerque Youth Symphony. He was also active as a church musician having either served as organist and/or choirmaster at St. Matthew's and St. Michael and All Angel's Episcopal in Albuquerque, St. Andrew's Episcopal (substitute) in Las Cruces, and St. Paul's Episcopal in Artesia. Mr. Bonnell filled the role of conductor, adjudicator, and clinician on many occasions in Arizona, Wyoming, Idaho, Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico. He also was a presenter on several topics for professional education conferences in the Southwest and served as an adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico.

He was preceded in death by his grandparents, Charles and Grace Bonnell and James N. and Dessie Ogle; his parents, Charles and Edith Bonnell, and his sister, Betty Jean Bonnell Artz. He is survived by his wife, Paula Diane Thompson Bonnell, and family members including: Sue McAdams, Karen and Howard Slinkard, David and Judy Thompson, Jack Artz and numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews.

Jim and his wife Diane, also a retired public school music educator and a professional arts administrator, most recently with the UNM Music Prep School, are members of St. John's Episcopal Cathedral in Albuquerque. Services will be held on August 5th (A Music Tribute at 1:30 and service at 2:00) at St. John's Episcopal Cathedral in Albuquerque, NM. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Music Program at the Cathedral Church of St. John (318 Silver Avenue SW, Albuquerque), The Diane Bonnell Scholarship Endowment for the UNM Music Prep School (UNM Foundation), the UNM Robb Musical Trust (UNM Foundation), The Albuquerque Youth Symphony Program, or The International Myeloma Foundation.

we are ROBBtrust
emerging composer
Kelly Feng // 冯重瑞 (b. 2002)
UNM MM Theory & Comp '27
April 2026

So far, I have had the chance to write and premiere three different pieces through the Robb Trust and each time I’ve been able to build meaningful connections with amazing musicians. I really appreciate Robb Trust for giving student composers an accessible platform through which they can build their portfolios. 

Learn more about our annual Composers' Symposium Series and Robb Concert. 

we are ROBBtrust
graduate assistantship
Emilio Méndez Rizo (b. 1998)
July 2026

As for the benefits I obtained from ROBBtrust, in my first year as their graduate assistant, they are many.

Most notably, the tuition discount and the stipend, enable my being at UNM. Without them I would not be able to afford rent, food, nor tuition. Even after years of working, saving and even selling precious objects in my home country I could only gather around 3,000 usd which could only cover a fraction of the first semester's cost of attendance.

Receiving this aid while asking me to focus on more music, was a major motivation throughout the year. This enabled me to hone my skills as a means of survival, while also participating in other musical activities such as the Albuquerque's composer's collective, where alongside fellow composers we put together a student chamber orchestra, wrote an original scrip, composed, and premiered an original opera that deals with topics of social insecurity and calls for union among working class fellows, regardless of their place of origin, highlighting how we all struggle with similar problems and how working together is the best option to survive.

It is truly a joy to work alongside other young composers and musicians, sharing musical tools and organizing as a collective to make new music happen. 

Another truly remarkable benefit, if not the greatest one, was all the learning I got from rehearsing with world-class musicians realizing residencies at the symposium. Rehearsal time is the most precious time for the composition of a piece, since only there the real problems of a piece are surfaced. The natural reactions of instrumentalists to the score are of crucial importance in composition, while some things must be clearly changed at once, others need only a little more time on the instrumentalist's side to reveal the potential music. Only rehearsing with experienced musicians can a composer truly develop a realistic compass for difficulty, one that can temper to the setting at hand, as professional life will demand.

Learn more about our graduate assistantship program. 

we are ROBBtrust
tiguex + robb award
Raven Chacón
August 2025

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. 

Learn more about Raven Chacon.

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.