Graduate Assistantship

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. 

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