Christoph Wagner & Paula Corbin Swalin Faculty Features

Christoph Wagner always wanted to play the cello. The new assistant professor of cello at the University of New Mexico, Wagner started playing when he was six. Wagner says he watched his sister play the cello and never doubted that it was the instrument for him. What attracted him was the versatility of the instrument.

“You can do so many things with this instrument. You can play very low, you can play very high pitches. So you can mimic a huge spectrum of expressions, sounds, timbres and colors,” Wagner said. Wagner’s responsibilities will include growing the cello program at UNM, teaching courses related to strings and pedagogy and supporting the orchestra program. During the Fall 2023 semester, he co-lead the Sinfonia– the smaller orchestra.

Paula Corbin Swalin, soprano and Lecturer in Voice, was chosen as a classical singer participant to attend the Barcelona Festival of Song this summer. Each year the festival receives a select group of singers from around the world who immerse themselves in the art of song repertoire in Spanish, Catalan, and Portuguese. Singers receive coaching, attend lectures and concerts, and participate in performances of Latin American and Iberian song, curated by the festival’s coordinator, Dr. Patricia Caicedo. Through her work at Mundo Arts and the Barcelona Festival of Song, Dr. Caicedo strives to preserve and promote Latin American and Iberian art song repertoire.