Dr. Kristina Jacobsen, Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology in the UNM Department of Music, is awarded the 2018 Woody Guthrie Book Award for the most outstanding book in popular music by the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM-U.S.).
“Jacobsen’s study of the ways in which Diné, or Navajo, country music musicians and fans articulate their sense of belonging and identity through country music, a genre deemed incongruous with and even antagonistic to Navajo sensibilities, is a remarkable example of popular music scholarship. Jacobsen’s work is particularly timely as the racialization of indigeneity continues to erase indigenous presence from popular music and cultural production writ large. Jacobsen’s reflexive positioning as a non-Diné (white) scholar as well as a performing country musician in bands with Navajo musicians, Jacobsen provides a strong model for ethical and sensitive ethnographic work.”
2019 Prize Committee (Kevin Fellezs, Alexa Woloshyn, and Kate Galloway), Woody Guthrie Book Award.
NM Organ Instructor to make Carnegie Hall Conducting début
Dr. Maxine Thevenot, who teaches organ in the UNM Department of Music will be making her Carnegie Hall conducting début on Sunday, June 28, 2026, in a concert that brings together choral and orchestral musicians from across America, including members of local...
UNM to Host “Organ Plus” Concert in Partnership with American Guild of Organists
The University of New Mexico Department of Music will partner with the American Guild of Organists, Albuquerque Chapter, to present Organ Plus, a special concert event at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 23, 2026, in Keller Hall at the UNM Center for the Arts. The...
A major new operatic work by Peter Gilbert has made its international debut
A major new operatic work by University of New Mexico Department of Music Professor Peter Gilbert has made its international debut at the renowned Schwetzingen Festspiele. Malina, composed by Gilbert with his wife Karola Obermüller (a former UNM faculty member),...