The UMKC Conservatory is well represented at this year’s 64th annual GRAMMY® Awards with faculty members who comprise Sandbox Percussion and alumnus Andrés Salguero, (DMA ’11) and his wife Christina Sanabria receiving recognition for outstanding work.
Sandbox Percussion is a quartet of Conservatory faculty Jonathan Allen, Victor Caccese, Ian Rosenbaum and Terry Sweeney. The group was nominated in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance and Best Contemporary Classical Composition categories. Trumpeter Kevin Noe, visiting professor and director of orchestras at the Conservatory, encouraged the ensemble to come teach at UMKC.
“Kevin told us that UMKC was looking to hire a percussion professor and he thought it would be great if the school would consider thinking outside the box and consider all four of us as a teaching unit,” says Rosenbaum.
The world premiere of the GRAMMY® nominated composition, “Seven Pillars” was supposed to take place in April 2020 but was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The cancellation was one of the hardest to handle. We had been developing this piece for years,” Rosenbaum says.
But the cancellation and the ensuing free time allowed the quartet to focus on the recording. They devoted a year to recording the album and creating 11 films to accompany it. They were together in a meeting when they received the news of the GRAMMY® nomination.
"If it had to happen to one project that we were involved with, we are so glad that it is this one!" —
“We paused our meeting for a second as they announced our categories – and then we completely lost it. We knew how proud we were of this album and this work, but we never imagined that it could get recognized in this way,” says Rosenbaum. “We're also just so thrilled that these two nominations recognize not just Sandbox, but also Andy Akiho and his incredible work as a composer. If it had to happen to one project that we were involved with, we are so glad that it is this one!”
Salguero and Sanabria are “123 Andres,” a duet who focuses on children’s music. They received a GRAMMY® nomination for Best Children’s Music Album for “Activate,” their latest release, conceived to encourage children and families to be active. Salguero said he was too nervous to watch the GRAMMY® nomination livestream.
“Christina and I were home and my phone started buzzing and I was receiving text messages from friends. We were so surprised,” Salguero says.
“We are so excited to celebrate!” —
The couple had been working on the album for the last three years. They were already collaborating with other musicians long distance.
“Each musician was recording in their own studios. When the pandemic struck, we simply continued working this way.”
Salguero and Sanabria will be in Las Vegas for the ceremony April 3. “We are so excited to celebrate!” he says.