UNM professor's book on Mexican composer receives prestigious national award

The first book on renowned Mexican composer Mario Lavista, published last year by Ana R. Alonso-Minutti, associate professor of Musicology at The University of New Mexico, has received a prestigious award from the American Musicological Society.

Alonso-Minutti was presented with the Robert M. Stevenson Award for her book, Mario Lavista: Mirrors of Sounds, at the society's recent national meeting in Chicago.

The award committee praised the book Mario Lavista: Mirrors of Sounds as "a tour de force" that combines comprehensive research on the renowned Mexican composer Mario Lavista (1943-2021) with a rich cultural context. The committee emphasized the author's innovative approach, using ideas from sound studies, feminist theory, cultural theory, and decolonial scholarship to interpret Lavista's music as "mirrors of sounds," demonstrating the composer's creation of social space through sound with both elegance and precision. This recognition affirms Alonso-Minutti's significant contribution to the study of Latin American music and its cultural implications.

"I feel humbled and deeply honored! This is one of the most prestigious international awards in the field of Ibero-American music scholarship and highlights the ongoing contributions of our institution to the advancement of music scholarship," Alonso-Minutti said. "The award holds special significance for the UNM community and is particularly relevant to our New Mexico context because it is named in honor of Robert M. Stevenson, a New Mexico-born scholar (Melrose, 1916-2012) who was a pioneering figure in Ibero-American music studies. His lifelong work in Iberian and Latin American music set the stage for contemporary research in the field, making this award especially relevant to those of us working in these areas today."

The Robert M. Stevenson Award honors outstanding scholarship in Iberian and Latin American music. "Iberian music" refers to music from or related to the musical cultures of Spain and Portugal. In contrast "Latin American music" encompasses music from South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean-regions with rich and diverse musical traditions. The award honors not only the scholarly depth of the work but also its ability to engage with the broader global musicological community. It serves as a mark of distinction for those advancing research in this wide geographic area.

In a particularly remarkable achievement, Alonso-Minutti becomes the first scholar ever to win both awards named after Robert M. Stevenson. In 2021, she received the Society for Ethnomusicology's Robert M. Stevenson Prize for her composition Voces del desierto, a four-movement choral work that premiered in March 2019 at the National Hispanic Cultural Center as part of the Revolutions International Theatre Festival.

Related articles

• UNM musicologist Ana Alonso-Minutti launches new book on Mexican composer Mario Lavista
• Alonso-Minutti receives prize for 'Voces del desierto' composition