Stories from the HeART of Music in New Mexico

Susan Kempter and Laurie Lopez were recognized by the New Mexico chapter of the American String Teachers Association earlier this year.

Bruno Latour argues that even if poisoned, the anthropocene is a deep gift to human research, inciting new approaches to environmental responsibility. Taking up Latour’s challenge through acoustemology, the study of sound as a way of knowing, this talk engages histories of hearing heat that affectively entangle cicadas and humans in Papua New Guinea, Japan, and Greece.

Music from the Americas presents “New Music from Mexico,” featuring world premieres by Juan José Bárcenas, David Hernández-Ramos, José-Luis Hurtado, Victor Ibarra and Rodrigo Valdez-Hermoso. Works will be performed by the Ensemble Vertebrae featuring Oliva Abreu, flute, Ana Paolina Hasslacher, piano and Camille Emaille, percussion.

The Enchantment Brass, the brass ensemble-in-residence at the University of New Mexico, has released their debut recording, A Brass Menagerie: The Music of John Cheetham, on all digital formats.

The class focuses on music, language, poetry, film and expressive arts in the context of sovereignty and contemporary politics on the Navajo Nation.

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.

“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. 

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.

The Sound of Navajo Country: Music, Language and Diné Belonging (University of North Carolina Press), examines cultural intimacy and generational nostalgia on the Navajo (Diné) Nation (click here for brief interviews in English and Italian about her research).

This talk will explore the influence of artist Francisco Goya (1746-1828) on one of the greatest masterpieces of Spanish music, the Goyescas suite for solo piano by Enrique Granados (1867-1916).