2023 Program Fellows

Danielle Davis is a violist and doctoral candidate at Florida State University. She is music director of the FSU Middle Eastern World Music Ensemble. A member of the American Studies Association, the Gertrude Robinson Network for Black Ethnomusicologists and the Society for Ethnomusicology, her research interests are public popular music pedagogy, Afrofuturism and the music of the Arab world.

Sakinah Davis holds degrees in vocal studies from Spelman College and the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. She is currently assistant professor of voice and director of opera workshop at Xavier University of Louisiana. She is a resident artist with OperaCréole. Her research interests include ethnomusicology, Spanish language vocal repertoire and African Diaspora studies. 

Adan Fernandez is an organist, tenor, conductor and writer. He is university organist at California Lutheran University, director of music and liturgy at Holy Family Catholic Church in Glendale, and associate conductor of the National Children’s Chorus. He has sung with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and is a dean in the American Guild of Organists. He holds a DMA in sacred music from the University of Southern California.

Ana Laura González is assistant professor of flute and music theory at Hartwick College. She is an avid chamber musician and co-founder of the Windstruck Duo with percussionist Julie Licata. She holds degrees from the University of Arizona, Ohio University and the National Conservatory of Buenos Aires. Her research interests include Argentinean academic music and flute works by Latin American composers.

April Hamm (they/them/their) is a church musician who has shared music and wellness programs with thousands across the Southeast through The Hamm Institute’s Center for Musical Development and Wellness and The Jim-Ree African American Museum of Northeast Georgia, which they co-founded. They hold degrees from Emory University and the University of New Orleans.  

Hermann Hudde Chacin is a classical guitarist and cultural musicologist from Venezuela. He regularly engages in community outreach performances and has performed at the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts and Dartmouth College. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed research journals and received a research grant from the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation.

Christophe Jackson is a research professor of music and neuroscience at the University of Tulsa, Lorton School of Music and Oxley College of Health Sciences. He is an accomplished classical and jazz pianist, having trained in jazz with Ellis Marsalis and Victor Atkins. He hold PhDs in piano performance, biology and mechanical engineering and studies the effects of music on cognition, performance and stress.  

Luís Armando Rivera is a music theory lecturer in the School of Music at the University of Washington, where he also studied. His research interests are in mathematical music theory, set theory and the music of Latin America. He is an active piano instructor and has contributed to after-school music programs in community centers. He holds degrees from Augusta University and Georgia State University.  

Emorja Roberson is assistant professor of music and African American Studies at the Oxford College of Emory University. A conductor, vocalist and composer, he highlights the Black experience through jazz, hip-hop and gospel, and has created the talk show Black@ND, a forum for Black students, faculty and staff at the University of Notre Dame, where he earned degrees in vocal performance and choral conducting.   

Demetrius Robinson is an award-winning conductor, educator, researcher and composer. He holds degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi and William Carey University. He is a current PhD candidate at The University of Memphis. A member of numerous professional organizations, his research interests include musical literacy, student leadership, equity in music studies, and gospel music pedagogy.  

Alicia Romero-Sardiñas is a visiting professor of music education at Florida International University, where she holds multiple degrees. A longtime choral director in public high schools, she is a board member of the Florida Vocal Assocation and has presented at the Florida Music Education Association annual conference. Her research aspires to recognize standards of musical literacy among choral directors.  

Leaha Maria Villarreal is a composer whose work in dance, film, opera and concert music has been presented by Beth Morrison Projects, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Wende Museum, National Sawdust, Experiments in Opera and the Victory Players. Villareal is a PhD candidate at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, with an emphasis on American Studies, arts leadership and music teaching.