UNM Department of Music performs in the world premiere of Raven Chacon’s Tiguex

The University of New Mexico Department of Music joined in the world premiere of Tiguex, a monumental new work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and UNM alumnus Raven Chacon. The project took place across Albuquerque from sunrise to sunset Sept. 27, transforming the city itself into a vast, living composition.

More than 200 musicians from across the region performed 20 interconnected movements continuously throughout the day. The piece was named for the historic Tiguex Province along the Rio Grande. The performance honors the region's rich and layered histories, celebrating its vibrant living cultural ecosystem.

The premiere was presented through partnerships with Raven Chacon, the UNM Department of Music, the Tamarind Institute and the City of Albuquerque Department of Arts & Culture, with support from community partners and regional arts organizations.

"For our students to perform in the world premiere of a major new work by a Pulitzer Prize winner-who also happens to be a UNM graduate-was an extraordinary opportunity," said Michael Hix, chair of the UNM Department of Music. "Tiguex celebrated Albuquerque in a way that was both profound and personal. It invited our city to listen to itself-to hear its landscapes, histories and neighborhoods through the shared experience of music."

Tamarind Institute's large-scale graphic score

At the heart of Tiguex is a monumental graphic notation score created in collaboration with UNM's Tamarind Institute, one of the world's leading centers for fine art lithography.

This six-color lithographic print, measuring approximately 40 x 34 inches, merges art and music. Chacon created a visual landscape of color, form and texture that guided performers through space and time.

Printed by Tamarind master printers Valpuri Remling and Ginny Fielding, the score symbolizes the intersection of visual art and sound.

Faculty, students and alumni unite

For many at UNM, Tiguex represented a deeply personal and interdisciplinary collaboration. Among them was Ana Alonso-Minutti, professor of musicology, who worked closely with Chacon from the project's earliest planning stages.

"Participating in Tiguex, Raven Chacon's citywide project, was an extraordinary experience in which I was involved from the very beginning-from the earliest planning conversations and efforts in recruitment and organization to publicly interviewing Raven at the Albuquerque Museum," said Alonso-Minutti. "The experience reached a deeply meaningful full-circle moment when Marisa Demarco invited me to perform in Movement XVIII, Cantata, which she co-composed with Raven, together with artists I have long admired, written about and taught."

Her performance took place at sunset beneath I-40, beside the Río Grande. During the performance, this site became a two-level cathedral. Above, machines-cars, motorcycles and trucks-sped over concrete; below, eight women's voices rose from the land beside the river and sang with the pylons, the river, and a layer of amplified sound as daylight dimmed and darkness embraced them. The place still resounds with this memory and music.

Alonso-Minutti described Tiguex as both a musical and social act, a celebration of Albuquerque's history and the communities that continue to shape it.

"This work resonates deeply with all who love Tiguex and Albuquerque, in all its beauty, resilience and layered histories, while honoring the diverse peoples and musical styles that have flourished here for centuries," she said. "The project fostered fellowship among communities and musical traditions that have at times been in tension. In a political climate that continues to harass and discriminate against Brown and Black bodies, bodies that belong to this land, Tiguex celebrated our collective agency and creativity."

A proud homecoming
For many within the College of Fine Arts, Chacon's return to UNM was both a celebration of artistic excellence and a reminder of the university's creative reach.

"Having Raven Chacon back on campus was a proud and exciting moment for all of us," said Leonard Scott Ney, associate dean of student success for the College of Fine Arts and professor of percussion in the Department of Music. "It was wonderful seeing current faculty, staff and students come together and collaborate with UNM alumni and community members to perform at venues throughout the city."

Student impact
The experience also proved transformative for UNM's emerging composers and performers. Graduate composition student, Brock Williard, shared that "When Raven asked me to participate in organizing two movements, I immediately said yes. Experimental music like this is crucial in helping us understand what music is now and what it can become. Getting to work with Raven Chacon was incredible."

About Raven Chacon
Raven Chacon (b. 1977, Fort Defiance, Navajo Nation) is a composer, performer and installation artist whose work explores sound, place, and cultural memory. A graduate of The University of New Mexico, he is the first Native American composer to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Music and a MacArthur Fellow. His works have been performed and exhibited internationally at the Whitney Biennial, Kennedy Center, documenta 14, and the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, among others.

Visit the UNM Department of Music website to learn more about their programs and community involvement.