Robb Commission
Juantio "Tio" Becenti
2024 Commissions
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.
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
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
Monica Demarco
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.
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
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
About
In 2004, the Robb Trust began an ongoing sponsorship of the creation of newly composed chamber works in honor of John Donald Robb that utilize music from Robb's unique collection of folk music recordings housed in the UNM Libraries' Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections. Previously called the John Donald Robb Composers' Competition, from 2004 to 2014 works were solicited that utilized music from the archive and prize winners were selected. Since 2016, the Trust has moved to commissioning works based upon music from the archive. The Trust is proud of the growing legacy of remarkable new works connected with Dean Robb’s historically significant folk music collection.
Composers
* 2016 is the first year the competition was awarded as a commission by the UNM Robb Trust.
In 2004, the Robb Trust began an ongoing sponsorship of the creation of newly composed chamber works in honor of John Donald Robb that utilize music from Robb's unique collection of folk music recordings housed in the UNM Libraries' Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections. Previously called the John Donald Robb Composers' Competition, from 2004 to 2014 works were solicited that utilized music from the archive and prize winners were selected. Since 2016, the Trust has moved to commissioning works based upon music from the archive. The Trust is proud of the growing legacy of remarkable new works connected with Dean Robb’s historically significant folk music collection.
Composers
- 2024 Monica Demarco ~ Map Songs (mezzo-soprano, flute, cello, piano)
- 2024 Juantio Becenti ~ The Empty (mezzo-soprano, flute, cello, piano)
- 2022 Patricia Alessandrini ~ Hear (vocal sextet, trombone)
- 2020 postponed due to COVID
- 2018 Kyong Mee Choi ~ Adiós a lo conocido (violin, clarinet, saxophone, bassoon, piano, percussion)
- 2016 Marta Gentilucci ~ Dance (flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, piano, percussion)
- 2014 Luke Dahn ~ Buffalo Dance (alto saxophone, piano)
- 2012 Paul Clift ~ 1950c (restrung classical guitar)
- 2010 Colin Holter ~ The Recording You Will Now Hear (piccolo, contrabass clarinet, clarinet, piano, vibraphone, violin, cello)
- 2008 Gary Smart ~ Song of the Holy Ground (piano, string quartet)
- 2006 no commission awarded
- 2004 Carl Donsbach ~ Palomita: Canción (violin, cello, piano)
* 2016 is the first year the competition was awarded as a commission by the UNM Robb Trust.