54th Annual Robb Concert
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Trio Magnoliana
Wed 8 April 2026 7:30pm Free Admission a family-friendly community event Keller Hall Center for the Arts (CFA) University of New Mexico College of Fine Arts MSC04 2570 1 University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001 Directions |
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video: Ravel Piano Trio in A Minor, II. Pantoum performed by Trio Magnoliana, October 2023, recorded by Eric Silberger.
The Robb Concert is part of the Robb Symposium Series.
The Robb Concert is part of the Robb Symposium Series.
Sponsored by
Composers
John Donald Robb, Peter Gilbert, Steven Block, Nicky Sohn, Emilio Méndez Rizo, Roberto De León-Ortiz, Lucas Stafford, and Carlos Santiago Medina
Performers
Trio Magnoliana: violinist Mann-Wen Lo, cellist Eunghee Cho, and pianist Andrew Staupe
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John Donald Robb, Peter Gilbert, Steven Block, Nicky Sohn, Emilio Méndez Rizo, Roberto De León-Ortiz, Lucas Stafford, and Carlos Santiago Medina
Performers
Trio Magnoliana: violinist Mann-Wen Lo, cellist Eunghee Cho, and pianist Andrew Staupe
This page is not optimized for mobile devices. Use a computer, laptop, or tablet for optimal viewing.
Tentative Program
order tba
order tba
Sarabande & Pastorale, Op. 4
Trio, Op. 68 IV. Moderato
Poem, Op. 94
John Donald Robb (1892-1989)
Impressions
Peter Gilbert (b. 1975)
Piano Trio
Steven Block (b. 1952)
Magnolia
Nicky Sohn (b. 1992)
Toccata y Fuga (2021 rev. 2025)
Emilio Méndez Rizo (b. 1998)
Effloresence (2021)
Roberto De León-Ortiz
Ataraxic Pursuit
Lucas Stafford (b. 2004)
She Sees More Purple
Carlos Santiago Medina (b. 2003)
Trio, Op. 68 IV. Moderato
Poem, Op. 94
John Donald Robb (1892-1989)
Impressions
Peter Gilbert (b. 1975)
Piano Trio
Steven Block (b. 1952)
Magnolia
Nicky Sohn (b. 1992)
Toccata y Fuga (2021 rev. 2025)
Emilio Méndez Rizo (b. 1998)
Effloresence (2021)
Roberto De León-Ortiz
Ataraxic Pursuit
Lucas Stafford (b. 2004)
She Sees More Purple
Carlos Santiago Medina (b. 2003)
Featured Performers
Trio Magnoliana
Formed in 2023 in Houston, Texas, Trio Magnoliana features violinist Mann-Wen Lo, cellist Eunghee Cho, and pianist Andrew Staupe, all accredited concert soloists and faculty members at the University of Houston, and each ensemble member brings a wealth of professional chamber music experience to this riveting new artistic partnership.
In their 2025-2026 season, Trio Magnoliana will perform residencies at the University of New Mexico (Robb Symposium Series), the Mountain Light Music Festival, and in Taipei, Taiwan (National Concert Hall) following its international debut in Sendai, Japan last season. The trio has performed at Chamber Music America’s National Conference at Rice University alongside appearances at the Shinkoskey Noon Concerts Series, Clear Lake Performing Arts Series, UH Moores School of Music’s Faculty Artist Series, Crocker Classical Concerts Series, and Mellon Music Festival. Their repertoire includes new works written for them by Nicky Sohn, Steven Block, Richard Hermann, and Christopher Goddard. For further information and for concert booking inquiries, please contact [email protected].
In their 2025-2026 season, Trio Magnoliana will perform residencies at the University of New Mexico (Robb Symposium Series), the Mountain Light Music Festival, and in Taipei, Taiwan (National Concert Hall) following its international debut in Sendai, Japan last season. The trio has performed at Chamber Music America’s National Conference at Rice University alongside appearances at the Shinkoskey Noon Concerts Series, Clear Lake Performing Arts Series, UH Moores School of Music’s Faculty Artist Series, Crocker Classical Concerts Series, and Mellon Music Festival. Their repertoire includes new works written for them by Nicky Sohn, Steven Block, Richard Hermann, and Christopher Goddard. For further information and for concert booking inquiries, please contact [email protected].
Mann-Wen Lo photographed by Kevin Hsu
Violinist Mann-Wen Lo is a featured recording artist under labels such as Warner Classics, Navona Records, and CMH Label Groups, and she has appeared as guest concertmaster for the Pasadena Opera, American Contemporary Ballet and Delirium Musicum. She performs extensively throughout the world in some of the most prestigious venues as a soloist and chamber musician. Lo has been a recurring artist in performances at Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Walt Disney Hall, among others. Featured on radio and TV broadcasts in the United States, Taiwan, Japan, and France, Lo has gained recognition at numerous competitions and awards. Most recently, her recording with the Mana Music Quartet featuring music of Queen Liliʻuokalani was awarded Instrumental Album of the Year at the 2021 Na Hoku Hanohano Award.
Eunghee Cho photographed by Claire McAdams
Born in Davis, California, Korean-American cellist Eunghee Cho was awarded Second Prize and the special award for Outstanding Chinese New Piece Performance at the Alice & Eleonore Schoenfeld International String Competition (China). He has also earned top prizes in the Gustav Mahler Prize Cello Competition (Czech Republic), AEMC International Chamber Music Competition (Italy), and Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition (USA). He is currently the principal cellist of Mercury Chamber Orchestra and Texas Music Festival’s Director of Chamber Music.
Andrew Staupe
Pianist Andrew Staupe is emerging as one of the distinctive voices in a new generation of pianists. With a Concerto repertoire spanning over 70 works, Andrew has appeared as soloist with many of the top orchestras throughout North America and in Europe, including the Baltimore Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Houston Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Maryland Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, the George Enescu Philharmonic in Romania, the Orquestra Filarmónica de Bogotá in Colombia, and many others.
Featured Composers
John Donald Robb (1892-1989)
John Donald Robb (1892-1989) led a rich and varied life as an attorney, composer, arts educator, and folk song collector and preservationist. He composed an impressive body of work including symphonies, concertos, sonatas, chamber and other instrumental music, choral works, songs, and arrangements of folk songs, two operas, including Little Jo, a musical comedy, Joy Comes to Deadhorse, and more than 65 electronic works. Robb’s orchestral works have been played by many major orchestras in the United States and abroad under noted conductors, such as Hans Lange, Maurice Bonney, Maurice Abravanel, Leonard Slatkin, Gilberto Orellano, Yoshimi Takeda, Guillermo Figueroa, James Richards and Franz Vote.
Here is a 1988 performance of John Donald Robb's Symphony No. 1, Op. 16 by the Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque, David Oberg Music Director and Conductor. This was the first performance of the complete Symphony. The Elegy (with cello obligato) was recorded circa 1979 by the Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque and was released on Opus One label Number Fifty-one (Max Schubel, owner and founder). The Elegy was composed shortly after World War II and was dedicated to the soldiers, sailors, and airmen who gave their lives in that war.
Here is a 1988 performance of John Donald Robb's Symphony No. 1, Op. 16 by the Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque, David Oberg Music Director and Conductor. This was the first performance of the complete Symphony. The Elegy (with cello obligato) was recorded circa 1979 by the Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque and was released on Opus One label Number Fifty-one (Max Schubel, owner and founder). The Elegy was composed shortly after World War II and was dedicated to the soldiers, sailors, and airmen who gave their lives in that war.
Dr. Peter Gilbert
Peter Gilbert’s music combines acoustic and live-electronic sensibilities in works for multi-media theatre, film, installation and the concert hall. His second portrait album with New Focus Recordings “Burned Into the Orange” was named “Best of 2021” by Sequenza21. Accolades, commissions and residencies have come from the Barlow Foundation, NRW Fonds Neues Musiktheater, the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, Kennedy Center Education, New Music USA, ZKM | Institut für Akustik und Musik, the Aaron Copland House, Akademie Schloss Solitude, La Mortella, Tage Aktueller Musik Nürnberg, the Look & Listen Festival, the Russolo Foundation, Theater Bonn, the Third Practice Festival, IMEB Bourges, and the Washington International Composers Competition. His work as a composer, performer and producer can be heard on New Focus Recordings, Neuma, Innova, GM Recordings, Sono Luminus, Centaur and at http://petergilbert.net. He has taught at Harvard University, Wellesley College, Northeastern University, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Case Western Reserve University, and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Gilbert is now coordinator for composition and music technology as Professor of Music at the University of New Mexico.
Gilbert’s music can be heard on numerous labels including New Focus Recordings and at petergilbert.net.
Here is a visualization of the opening of Gilbert's work Channeling the Waters, released on "Burned into the Orange" available on New Focus Recordings. Flutist Camilla Hoitenga, Percussionist Magdalena Meitzner, composer and video artist Peter Gilbert.
Gilbert’s music can be heard on numerous labels including New Focus Recordings and at petergilbert.net.
Here is a visualization of the opening of Gilbert's work Channeling the Waters, released on "Burned into the Orange" available on New Focus Recordings. Flutist Camilla Hoitenga, Percussionist Magdalena Meitzner, composer and video artist Peter Gilbert.
Steven Block
Steven Block was born in New York City on November 5, 1952. He was the founding Dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley after having served as Chair of the Department of Music at the University of New Mexico for 17 years. As Dean, he built new Arts programs, including that of the Center for Latin Music, from two separate legacy campuses. Block has appeared in the various personae of composer, music theorist, music critic, pianist, and both classical radio and disco d.j., among others. His compositions have been performed worldwide including performances in Australia, Paris, and Poland. His articles as a music theorist and music critic have appeared in such journals and magazines as Perspectives of New Music, Integrales, Music Theory Spectrum, the Journal of Music Theory, the Annual Review of Jazz Studies, Music Library Notes, and High Fidelity.
Block has studied with some of the most innovative composers and theorists in the world including David Stock, a pioneer in the promotion of contemporary music; Robert Morris, one of the leading contemporary music theorists and composers; A. Wayne Slawson, who has led the exploration of timbre as a musical component; and the internationally known and important late composers Franco Donatoni and Luciano Berio.
Here's a recording of Steven Block's Piano Sonata No. 1 (1982, rev. 2018) performed by Steven Beck, 13 October 2020.
Block has studied with some of the most innovative composers and theorists in the world including David Stock, a pioneer in the promotion of contemporary music; Robert Morris, one of the leading contemporary music theorists and composers; A. Wayne Slawson, who has led the exploration of timbre as a musical component; and the internationally known and important late composers Franco Donatoni and Luciano Berio.
Here's a recording of Steven Block's Piano Sonata No. 1 (1982, rev. 2018) performed by Steven Beck, 13 October 2020.
Nicky Sohn
Selected as one of the “Cool 100” by Houston CityBook Magazine alongside icons such as Simone Biles and Megan Thee Stallion, composer Nicky Sohn is a versatile and sought after voice in contemporary classical music. With a distinctive style characterized by jazz inspired, rhythmically driven themes and vivid, colorful orchestration, her music has been praised internationally as “undoubtedly the crowd pleaser of the evening” (YourObserver), “dynamic and full of vitality” (The Korea Defense Daily), showcasing “colorful orchestration” (NewsBrite), and evoking “elegant wonder” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung).
Sohn’s work has been commissioned and performed by leading orchestras and institutions including the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Minnesota Orchestra, Annapolis Symphony, Albany Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, and the National Orchestra of Korea. Her music has also been featured by the New York Choreographic Institute and Stuttgart Ballet, reflecting a broad artistic range across orchestral, chamber, vocal, and ballet repertoire. Her writing is often driven by storytelling, cultural reflection, and a deep interest in collaboration across disciplines.
Below is performance of Sohn's Galaxy Back to You (2024) by the Balourdet Quartet, recorded 30 January 2025.
Sohn’s work has been commissioned and performed by leading orchestras and institutions including the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Minnesota Orchestra, Annapolis Symphony, Albany Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, and the National Orchestra of Korea. Her music has also been featured by the New York Choreographic Institute and Stuttgart Ballet, reflecting a broad artistic range across orchestral, chamber, vocal, and ballet repertoire. Her writing is often driven by storytelling, cultural reflection, and a deep interest in collaboration across disciplines.
Below is performance of Sohn's Galaxy Back to You (2024) by the Balourdet Quartet, recorded 30 January 2025.
Emilio Méndez Rizo
Emilio Méndez Rizo was born in Simi Valley, California, in 1998. He moved to Mexico City, where he was raised, shortly after birth. He began his musical studies in 2006, playing piano and electric guitar. During his teenage years he delved into electronic music, taking a self-teaching approach, which, through an unexpected turn of events, by connecting an appeal for complex timbre and form, lead him to take on the world of academic concert music.
Shortly after beginning his undergraduate studies at the Escuela Superior de Música (ESM, INBAL, Mexico City) in 2018, he was selected, alongside fellow colleagues, to present a mixed-media work as part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Centro Nacional de las Artes (CENART). Following this performance, he was commissioned to compose a fanfare; however, the project was ultimately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this setback, the artistic relationships formed during the event led to several commissions from ensemble members, including a drum set concerto for the conductor’s graduation recital and a string quartet.
Driven by a deep commitment to collaboration and guided by a humane artistic vision, he has taken part in several interdisciplinary projects. Notably, he contributed to the award-winning independent film collective Desvaríos, composing for the short film Puertas (2022).
“Emi” has always looked for maximizing the emotional effects of music, whether it’s by mellow textures or blasted tones. Blending compositional techniques of total specificity with aleatoric processes and uncanny timbres through electronics, using his background in mathematics, he thrives in simplifying complex ideas into intuitive notation with a powerful emotional load.
Here is Realidades Entrelazadas 1 (Entangled Realities 1) Composition & Live Electronics by Emilio Méndez Rizo, Conducted by Adrián Gutiérrez de Llano, performed by Kandinsky Chamber Orchestra, Premiered 26 January 2020, Teatro nacional de las Artes, México.
Shortly after beginning his undergraduate studies at the Escuela Superior de Música (ESM, INBAL, Mexico City) in 2018, he was selected, alongside fellow colleagues, to present a mixed-media work as part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Centro Nacional de las Artes (CENART). Following this performance, he was commissioned to compose a fanfare; however, the project was ultimately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this setback, the artistic relationships formed during the event led to several commissions from ensemble members, including a drum set concerto for the conductor’s graduation recital and a string quartet.
Driven by a deep commitment to collaboration and guided by a humane artistic vision, he has taken part in several interdisciplinary projects. Notably, he contributed to the award-winning independent film collective Desvaríos, composing for the short film Puertas (2022).
“Emi” has always looked for maximizing the emotional effects of music, whether it’s by mellow textures or blasted tones. Blending compositional techniques of total specificity with aleatoric processes and uncanny timbres through electronics, using his background in mathematics, he thrives in simplifying complex ideas into intuitive notation with a powerful emotional load.
Here is Realidades Entrelazadas 1 (Entangled Realities 1) Composition & Live Electronics by Emilio Méndez Rizo, Conducted by Adrián Gutiérrez de Llano, performed by Kandinsky Chamber Orchestra, Premiered 26 January 2020, Teatro nacional de las Artes, México.
Roberto De León-Ortiz
Bio coming soon.
Bio coming soon.
Robb Symposium Series Director
Dr. Peter Gilbert
Peter Gilbert (Associate Professor of Music, University of New Mexico) has commissions and accolades from the Barlow Foundation, New Music USA, the Aaron Copland House, ZKM (Institut für Akustik und Musik), the Russolo Foundation, the Look & Listen Festival, the Third Practice Festival, and IMEB Bourges. He writes: “My music usually aspires to create a sonic architecture that helps us lose our sense of time completely and allows us to partake in a kind of more direct aural experience in search of passageways to transcendence.”
Gilbert’s music can be heard on numerous labels including New Focus Recordings and at petergilbert.net.
Here is Peter Gilbert's Soon as the Sun Forsook the Eastern Main performed by Emanuele Arciuli, piano from the album Burned into the Orange released by New Focus Recordings and available on Bandcamp.
Gilbert’s music can be heard on numerous labels including New Focus Recordings and at petergilbert.net.
Here is Peter Gilbert's Soon as the Sun Forsook the Eastern Main performed by Emanuele Arciuli, piano from the album Burned into the Orange released by New Focus Recordings and available on Bandcamp.
Robb Symposium Series Co-Artistic Director
Dr. Karola Obermüller
Karola Obermüller’s composing, described by the New York Times as "hyperkinetic music”, is constantly in search of the unknown. After obtaining composition degrees in Nuremberg, Saarbrücken, and the University Mozarteum Salzburg, her sense of rhythm and form was forever changed by studying Carnatic and Hindustani classical music in Chennai and Delhi, India.
A Ph.D. at Harvard University brought her to the US where she taught at the University of New Mexico before joining the Department of Music at UC San Diego. She also lives and works part of the year in Europe and has been a visiting artist at ZKM, Deutsche Akademie Rom, Centro Tedesco di studi Veneziani, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Eisler House (International Hanns Eisler Scholarship), and IRCAM.
Her music, often political, always dramatic, includes operas for Staatstheater Nürnberg, Theater Bielefeld, Theater Bonn, Theater Heidelberg, Theater Aachen, and Stuttgart’s Musik der Jahrhunderte. The emotional juxtapositions of story suspended in a tableau architecture that one finds in her operas can be heard in her concert works as well. These include commissions from the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fromm Music Foundation, New Music USA, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Saarländischer Rundfunk, and numerous renowned soloists and ensembles.
Her music can be heard on CD (WERGO, New Focus Recordings, Brilliant Classics, NEOS) and online at karolaobermueller.net.
Here is Karola Obermüller's Dehnung (2020) for daegeum, koto, gayageum, two violins, viola violoncello, double bass, and percussion performed by AsianArt Ensemble 15 May 2023, Konzerthaus Berlin. All rights reserved.
A Ph.D. at Harvard University brought her to the US where she taught at the University of New Mexico before joining the Department of Music at UC San Diego. She also lives and works part of the year in Europe and has been a visiting artist at ZKM, Deutsche Akademie Rom, Centro Tedesco di studi Veneziani, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Eisler House (International Hanns Eisler Scholarship), and IRCAM.
Her music, often political, always dramatic, includes operas for Staatstheater Nürnberg, Theater Bielefeld, Theater Bonn, Theater Heidelberg, Theater Aachen, and Stuttgart’s Musik der Jahrhunderte. The emotional juxtapositions of story suspended in a tableau architecture that one finds in her operas can be heard in her concert works as well. These include commissions from the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fromm Music Foundation, New Music USA, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Saarländischer Rundfunk, and numerous renowned soloists and ensembles.
Her music can be heard on CD (WERGO, New Focus Recordings, Brilliant Classics, NEOS) and online at karolaobermueller.net.
Here is Karola Obermüller's Dehnung (2020) for daegeum, koto, gayageum, two violins, viola violoncello, double bass, and percussion performed by AsianArt Ensemble 15 May 2023, Konzerthaus Berlin. All rights reserved.
Archive
Robb Concert programs
2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023
John Donald Robb Composers' Symposium *
2023 | 2022 | 2021 (2021 addendum)
2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011
2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001
2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995 | 1994 | 1993 | 1992 | 1991
1990 | 1989 | 1988 | 1987 | 1986 | 1985 | 1984 | 1983 | 1982 | 1981
1980
* Robb Concert programs are included in Composers' Symposium commemorative booklets prior to 2023.
Robb Concert programs
2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023
John Donald Robb Composers' Symposium *
2023 | 2022 | 2021 (2021 addendum)
2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011
2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001
2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995 | 1994 | 1993 | 1992 | 1991
1990 | 1989 | 1988 | 1987 | 1986 | 1985 | 1984 | 1983 | 1982 | 1981
1980
* Robb Concert programs are included in Composers' Symposium commemorative booklets prior to 2023.