March 28th – April 1st
The Symposium offers lecture concerts, master classes and concerts, all of which are free and open to the public.
Evening concerts Monday through Thursday at 7:30 p.m., plus master classes and lecture concerts during the day.
Featured composers include: John Luther Adams, Louis Ballard, Curt Cacioppo, Raven Chacon, Michael Daugherty, Kyle Gann, Peter Gilbert, José-Luis Hurtado, Valerie Naranjo, Karola Obermüller, Trevor Reed,John Donald Robb, Christopher Shultis, and Falko Steinbach.
Featured artists: Amernet Quartet and Emanuele Arciuli.
2016 Symposium Concert Schedule 14-Mar-2016 (71 KB)
2016 Symposium Daytime Schedule 14-Mar-2016 (70 KB)
The Trust promotes the exploration of new music through the UNM John Donald Robb Composers’ Symposium, which takes place every spring on the UNM campus. Since 1972, the internationally renowned symposium has brought composers and musicians from around the world to UNM for a series of public concerts and unique learning opportunities for UNM students. Past guest composers have included such luminaries as John Cage, Lukas Foss, Michael Colgrass, Anthony Braxton and Gordon Mumma.
Every other year, the Trust sponsors the UNM John Donald Robb Commission Competition. The winner receives a cash prize and the opportunity to have his/her composition performed during the Composers’ Symposium. The 2016 Commission Competition awardee will be announced in March.
The UNM Robb Musical Trust serves as a bridge between the UNM College of Fine Arts and the New Mexico community, regularly presenting concerts of Robb’s compositions along with Hispanic folk songs, preserving and promoting the archive of 3,000 field recordings Robb made, and collaborating with community partners in educational initiatives. Through its many activities, the Trust proudly carries on the vision of its namesake, John Donald Robb.
Santiago Vaquera-Vásquez: Imagining Something Better: Punk, Tejano, La Bamba, and Other Rolas from My Border Hi-Fi
Unrepentant border crosser, writer, ex-dj, and academic. Santiago Vaquera-Vásquez is an Associate Professor of US Southwestern Literatures, and Creative Writing in the Department of Spanish, and Portuguese at the University of New Mexico.
Music from the Americas presents “Scaling the Wall”
“Scaling the Wall” is a project that promotes works for flute by Canadian, American and Mexican ex-patriate composers. It seeks to showcase how contemporary composers connected to those countries have successfully bridged the political, cultural and geographic borders crossing the western 100th meridian. Featured composers’ works vary in style, instrumentation and compositional approach, but also illustrate the universality of music, regardless of nationality.
Music from the Americas presents Iracema de Andrade, cello
Brazilian cellist Iracema de Andrade is strongly committed to the music of our time. Her repertory includes pieces for solo cello, cello and electronics, as well as multimedia and improvisation.