Monica Demarco is a composer from Albuquerque, N.M. Her work is shaped by the vitality and authenticity of the community in which she resides and collaborates. Her compositional voice has been fine tuned by the many different musical and creative applications she has the privilege of engaging in.
Her most recent work “Map Songs, Winds of Resilience” will have its world premiere this March 29th, 2024. The work was commissioned by the University of New Mexico for the Robb Symposium Series. It features the text of the Navajo Nation’s poet laureate Laura Tohe titled “Map Songs of the Sandhill Cranes”. Demarco was completely captivated by the texts ability to illustrate both the hardship of change and the resilience and grace of coming through it. Demarco states, “This is where I believe we all are now, trying to re-shape, reimagine and break into a new world.” The work also contains melodic influence from the John Donald Robb archive that has preserved thousands of New Mexican Folk tunes. Tohe will be reading her piece live at this event!
As an educator, her works have included compositions for young, blooming musicians. Demarco enjoys writing for musicians in different stages of development. A colleague and friend Sabrina Murton commissioned solo piano works at a variety of levels in 2016. Each piece centered on New Mexican myths and locations from the book “The Miracles and Mysteries of New Mexico” by Jack Kutz. The second half was commissioned by Lisa Villanueva. The pieces will be finished next fall and published in a collection of 12 solo piano works. Demarco was also commissioned by Karles McQuade, the director of Intermezzo, a Santa Fe-based children’s string orchestra. For this ensemble, Demarco wrote “Zozobra,” an exploration of the power dynamic within the orchestra as expressed through the story of Zozobra. The piece was focused on allowing young adults to explore their own agency and dynamic voice. At the end of the piece the conductor turns around and takes a seat while the orchestra takes over and finishes the piece.
As a pianist, her studies have greatly impacted her compositional language. Some notable compositions that inspire Demarco are Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No.9 Op.86 , Messiaen’s Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant Jésus , Ligeti’s piano etude Book III 15. White on White and Ravel’s Gaspard De La Nuit. Monica has so much love and gratitude for her teacher Stephen Montoya who guided her through the process of learning and internalizing these pieces.
As a composer, Demarco had the pleasure of studying with the renowned composer Christopher Shultis at UNM. Through his encouragement, thoughtful conversations and ability to engage with Demarco on her vision and voice, his guidance has had a lasting and profound effect on her work.
As a performance artist, rock and experimental musician, Demarco has had the wonderful experience of collaborating in countless collectives of incredible musicians that all reside in the Southwest. There is no other place she can imagine being from. The cross pollination of many artistic disciplines including film, aerial arts, dance and visual art would not be possible anywhere else. Demarco’s experience with musical technology and electronic manipulation has been formed by Albuquerque and the legacy of Manny Rettinger.
Here is an interview with Demarco for the 2024 Robb Symposium Series.