
UNM Distinguished Alum and Grammy Award Winner Col. Jim Keene conducts The UNM Symphony Orchestra
The University of New Mexico Symphony Orchestra presented a special performance on Thursday, March 28, at 7:30 p.m., at Popejoy Hall on the UNM campus. The UNM Symphony orchestra features the top music students in New Mexico and is a part of the University’s celebrated Music and Fine Arts Department.
The orchestra was be led by UNM distinguished alumni U.S. Army Col. Jim Keene, who will be retiring from the U.S. Army after 30 years of service, most recently leading the Grammy Award winning U.S. Army Field Band.
The concert featured UNM horn professor and virtuoso Michael Walker in a performance of composer Dana Wilson’s exciting Concerto for Horn. The orchestra also featured the music of Indian-American composer Reena Esmail’s, titled “Black Iris” after Georgia O’Keefe’s famous painting and dedicated to representing and amplifying the voices of women highlighted by the #metoo movement.
The concert began with the “Carmen Suite (number 1)” featuring themes from the world’s most famous opera by George Bizet. The concert ended in a performance of one of the greatest movie scores ever written, “The Magnificent Seven,” which serves as a perfect soundtrack to the American West.
The UNM Symphony Orchestra program has been in existence for more than 50 years. It constitutes one of the most important cultural student organizations on the campus of The University of New Mexico and is open to all students regardless of academic major.
MFA Photography Alumni, Anna Rotty and Brianna Tadeo, Selected for “FORECAST 2025” at SF Camerawork
The Department of Art is thrilled to congratulate MFA Photography alumni Anna Rotty and Brianna Tadeo on the selection of their work for “FORECAST 2025” at SF Camerawork!
What the land knows: the Radical Art ▽ Ecology Lab (RAVEL) in and around Los Alamos
The UNM Department of Art’s RAVEL Lab was featured in a recent e-flux journal article by Brian Karl. Published on June 13, 2025, as part of e-flux Education’s mid-June focus on U.S. institutions across the South and Southwest, the feature spotlights the RAVEL Lab within Art & Ecology program at The University of New Mexico.
Covington-Rhode Senior Prize Winners: Viola Murphy and Josiah Garza
The UNM Department of Art is proud to announce the recipients of the 2025 Covington-Rhode Senior Prize.