Return to CUA Home Page/ Back to LAMC Home Page/ Dr. Emma Garmendia is Director Emerita of the Latin American Center for Graduate Studies in Music, located at the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music of The Catholic University of America. She was Adjunct Professor and Director of the Center since its inception in 1984. She is also Director of the International Ibero-American Music Center.
A native of Argentina, she earned the licenciate in piano from the University of Tucumán, Argentina. She received her Masters degree in Music Education from Indiana University and completed advanced course work at both the Paris Conservatory and the Bologna Conservatory of Music in Italy. She received her Doctorate in Musicology from The Catholic University of America.
From 1959-1973, Dr. Garmendia was Dean of the Instituto Superior de Música at the National University of Rosario, Argentina. During that time she was also Director there of the University Musical Editions (EDUL). In 1970 she was elected president of the Fourth Inter-American Music Education Conference, sponsored by the Organization of American States. From 1971-1973, she held the position of Director of the Latin American Center for Music Education, headquartered at the University of Rosario and sponsored by the OAS. In 1974, as Director of the Music Education and Musicology Departments of the Conservatorio de Música del Tolima, Colombia, she organized the First International Music Courses for advanced studies in those fields.
Since 1975 Dr. Garmendia has travelled throughout Latin America and Spain giving seminars and workshops on Latin-American music, serving as a music consultant in various Latin-American musical institutions and festivals, and adjudicating international and Inter-American music contests. In 1990 she was the president of the Eighth Inter-American Music Education Conference, held in Washington, D.C., and organized by the Catholic University of America, the Inter-American Music Council and the Inter-American Development Bank.
Because of her outstanding work in the field of Latin American music and for her contributions raising the academic level of the music to an international stature, she has received many international awards. She recently received the Diploma al Mérito of the Premios Konex 1999: Música Clásica (http://www.fundacionkonex.com.ar) for her outstanding contribution to music pedagogy.
Her academic publications include: Compilation of Songs for Teaching Music in the Elementary and High Schools in two volumes, University of Rosario, Argentina, and the nine-volume Tratado de Audioperceptiva published by Ricordi Americana. Her investigations into Argentinian music resulted in the doctoral dissertation The Use of Vidalita, Milonga, and Huella in the Piano Works of Alberto Williams.
Dr. Garmendia is currently working on a book of twelve essays on Latin American music.