department of music
Our Mission
The University of New Mexico Department of Music aims to provide the highest quality musical education, in order to make a substantial contribution to the cultural life of its region and the world by reinforcing the integral value of music in society.
We strive to give each student a first-rate musical education under the guidance of our dynamic artist faculty, and a well-balanced program among the disciplines of performance, music education, theory and composition, jazz studies, string pedagogy, conducting and musicology.
Accredited Degrees
Our programs strive to develop the complete musician, one who is not solely interested in his or her primary instrument, but one who engages the world around them with and through their music
Academics >
Concentration Areas
Our wide range of concentrations creates a diverse and exciting educational environment, one that allows students to explore their creative potential
Our Areas >
Community Outreach
The Department of Music at the University of New Mexico is highly engaged with the Albuquerque Arts community. This engagement goes far beyond the hundreds of concerts and musical events it hosts annually
Outreach Programs > | Public Events
Watch: All about our program
Auditions & Scholarships
The University of New Mexico Department of Music has many generous scholarship and assistantship opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students interested in a music education at UNM.
Performances & Events
Our students and faculty regularly perform music in the Center for the Arts’ Keller Hall
*Due to the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 there are no scheduled events at this time
Dr. José Luis Hurtado awarded prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship
Composer and pianist José Luis Hurtado, an associate professor in The University of New Mexico’s Department of Music in the College of Fine Arts, is one of the 2020 winners of the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship.
You Can’t Tell It Like I Can: Black Women, Music, and the Struggle for Social Justice in America
This lecture/performance explores how black women have used music as a method of shaping the public rhetoric and sentiment surrounding the black civil rights struggle in America. Through a historical framework that moves through the height of the abolitionist movement, the Popular front during the 1930s and 1940s, the frontlines of the direct action campaigns of the 1960s, and the proliferation of the Black Power movement in the 1970s.
An Americanish Songbook: Linda Ronstadt’s “other” Country
This talk will consider performances and recordings by singer Linda Ronstadt to propose what I refer to as her Americanish musical songbook. The suffix “ish” here intends to accentuate the “somewhat” or “to some extent” of “American” that Ronstadt—Tucson born and raised—lived and sonically imagined through her extraordinary musical career.
Department of Music
MSC04 2570
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
Phone: (505)277-2126
Email: music@unm.edu